Bad News Bears (2005)

What’s the Story?

Retired minor league pitcher Morris Buttermaker (Billy Bob Thornton) played 2/3 of an inning in the majors, at a time "long ago and far away." Sarcastic, frustrated, and frequently drunk, he agrees to coach a Little League team that includes players of various abilities (one is in a wheelchair, another is overweight, another short and puny, etc.) and backgrounds ("I got the damn League of Nations here," he grumps). As Buttermaker squares off against the rival team's coach, a bully named Bullock (Greg Kinnear), he also comes to respect his own team, as much for their oddities as for their spirit. Everyone's happy when the team begins winning, after Buttermaker recruits a great pitcher, his ex's daughter, Amanda (Sammi Kane Kraft, a real life Little League pitcher) and a great hitter, long-haired, just-out-of-juvie skater boi Kelly (Jeffrey Davies), who has a crush on Amanda.

Is It Any Good?

This lackluster remake of the much-loved 1976 Walter Matthau movie doesn't bring much new to the table. Nostalgic for a time when little kids uttering obscenities was considered hilarious mischief, BAD NEWS BEARS is surprisingly unimaginative, given director Richard Linklater's previous displays of ingenuity, including School of Rock, Waking Life, and Slacker. (Sadly, the film's standout aspect is editing: scene to scene, it's spectacularly incoherent.)

Basic plot: mean coach turns nice, and team comes to believe in itself. Kraft (who is quite good) and Thornton develop something like a charming rhythm, but for the most part, the film feels sloppy, riding on the lingering appeal of the original.