Bad News Bears (2005)

Movie review by Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Bad News Bears (2005) Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 14+

Scatological remake of a not-so-innocent movie.

PG-13 2005 111 minutes
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Parents say

age 15+

Based on 11 reviews

Kids say

age 12+

Based on 27 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the movie features kids cursing, behaving badly, fighting, and drinking non-alcoholic beer. Their poor role model is their coach, who drinks (to the point of passing out), smokes, swears, hangs out at a strip club, makes racist and sexist comments (as well as ignorant wisecracks about a boy in a wheelchair and another who is overweight), and teaches one of the kids to make martinis. As the coach works as an exterminator, the movie also features visual jokes about dead rats and insects. Though the coach learns to be a more tolerant and mature adult, he remains ornery, and has one-night sex with the mother of one of his players.

Community Reviews

Aidens_Mommy
Aidens_Mommy Adult
January 30, 2013
age 18+

PASS!

I never saw the original and I was going to get this for my son. I'm SO glad my husband decided to turn it on on Netflix tonight. This movie is really offensive. There are 11-13 year old boys cussing (A LOT), drinking, fighting, bullying, insults towards an overweight kid and one in a wheelchair, Billy Bob's character is a horrible role model. I would not want my son to see this before he was 16 or older. I am offended by it at 30. I think Billy Bob Thornton is a great actor but he wasted his time with this one.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
1 person found this helpful.
CSM Screen Name 242609
CSM Screen Name 242609 Adult
April 9, 2008
not rated for age

An okay comedy with a terrible rating of PG-13!

Holy! This movie is completely R rated material if this was a drama! The language is extremely strong, crude, vulgar, and explicit. 10-14 year old kids use the S word about 80 times in this movie, and the coach says the F word once, and the S wore about 60 times. There is other extremely strong language and references to sexual objects. A man is insulted for wearing tight beige jeans and is told that his private parts are showing. Underage kids drink, 10-14 year old, and go to a strip-joint, Hooters. Very R rated material and not the greatest comedy in the world.
1 person found this helpful.
See all 11 parent reviews

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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the film's treatment of the kids' differences in skills, sizes, attitudes, and backgrounds. While the coach is equally abusive to all the children, the film also makes some visual jokes based in their appearances, accents, and first languages (two brothers speak only Spanish). How does Amanda deal with being the only girl in the league? How do the kids learn to work together as a team? How does the coach get over his long-held bitterness and learn to appreciate imperfection?

Movie Details

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