The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Features  |  Reviews
Best2012Vote-1000x50

The Benchwarmers

Mediocrity from a gaggle of SNL alums and Napoleon Dynamite
By TOM MEEK  |  April 11, 2006
1.5 1.5 Stars
BENCHWARMERS: Sticking up for nerds, or sending up Bad News Bears?To strike a blow for nerds, three grown men (SNL alums Rob Schneider and David Spade along with Napoleon Dynamite geek Jon Heder) play short-sided baseball against platoons of Little League bullies. Neither Richie, the 39-year-old virgin with a Flowbee cut (Spade), nor Clark (Heder), a booger-eating paperboy, is worth a damn, but Gus (Schneider) can ding in homers and pitch a shutout. Fart sniffing, tittie twisters, and an emoting agoraphobe (co-scripter Nick Swardson) fill the gaps between innings. The film does score some laughs but it’s unclear if director Dennis Dugan meant it as a lesson to empower athletically challenged kids or as a cheap, potty-mouthed send-up of The Bad News Bears. If the former, it’s far too perverse; if the latter, it’s too preachy. Either way, Jon Lovitz confirms its mediocrity as the screwball billionaire backing the trio while real-life jocks Bill Romanowski and Reggie Jackson grunt like Neanderthals.
Related: Not ready for prime time, Blades of Glory, School for Scoundrels, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movie Stars,  More more >
| More

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 02/17 ]   "Guys, Gals, and Glitter"  @ Club Café
More Information
ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING  |  January 24, 2012
    The Underworld series got long in the tooth early, but here, in the fourth installment (directed by Swede Måns Mårlind), it grows new fangs.
  •   REVIEW: JOYFUL NOISE  |  January 10, 2012
    There's not much joy but there's plenty of noise of the rafter-rocking gospel singing variety in Tony Graff's musical dramedy.
  •   REVIEW: IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY  |  January 05, 2012
    Jolie has loosely reworked the story of Romeo and Juliet in an infamous setting familiar from CNN but here seen from the inside.
  •   REVIEW: ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED  |  December 13, 2011
    For 50 years, Alvin and the Chipmunks have been driving parents nuts with their helium-infused banter and shrill bastardizations of pop music.
  •   REVIEW: TRESPASS  |  October 13, 2011
    If Rod Lurie's errant remake of Straw Dogs didn't tickle your morbid fear of home invasion, then perhaps the latest from Joel Schumacher ( Falling Down ) might do the job.

 See all articles by: TOM MEEK

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed