Bad News Bears (2005)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Richard Linklater

Writers (WGA):

Bill Lancaster (screenplay) and
Glenn Ficarra (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

22 July 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

Disorganized. Disrespected. Dis summer.

Plot:

A grizzled little league coach (Thornton) tries to turn his team of misfits into champs.

Plot Keywords:

Coach | Baseball | Alcoholic | Little League | Former Athlete

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 12	9:20 AM	TBS
Mon. July 13	2:00 AM	TBS

Cast

Billy Bob Thornton	...	Morris Buttermaker
Greg Kinnear	...	Roy Bullock
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Liz Whitewood
Sammi Kane Kraft	...	Amanda Whurlitzer
Ridge Canipe	...	Toby Whitewood
Brandon Craggs	...	Mike Engelberg
Jeffrey Davies	...	Kelly Leak
Timmy Deters	...	Tanner Boyle
Carlos Estrada	...	Miguel Agilar
Emmanuel Estrada	...	Jose Agilar
Troy Gentile	...	Matthew Hooper
Kenneth 'K.C.' Harris	...	Ahmad Abdul Rahim
Aman Johal	...	Prem Lahiri
Tyler Patrick Jones	...	Timmy Lupus
Jeffrey Tedmori	...	Garo Daragabrigadien

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for rude behavior, language throughout, some sexuality and thematic elements.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6 | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:13 | Brazil:16 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41880) | Finland:K-7 | Singapore:PG | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | South Korea:12 | USA:PG-13 | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | UK:12A | Ireland:12A

Filming Locations:

Barone's Famous Italian Restaurant - 13726 Oxnard Street @ Mammoth Avenue - Van Nuys, California, USA

Company:

Detour Filmproduction

Trivia:

When looking for a local business to sponsor the team, Buttermaker tries a business called "Chico's Bail Bonds" which sponsored the team in the original.

Goofs:

Continuity: No less than four times does Hooper roll his wheelchair to the left to exit the dugout. Given that there are steps this would make his exit a little tricky.

Quotes:

Amanda Whurlitzer: Man, you must have a big one because I don't know what else my mom saw in you.
Morris Buttermaker: You're not supposed to be talking about my... my one. You're 12 years old. As far as you know, I'm like G.I. Joe down there, okay?
Amanda Whurlitzer: I have the Internet, you know. I'm not stupid.

Movie Connections:

References Field of Dreams (1989)

Soundtrack:

Close to Champaign

Further redundant proof that movies, among other things, were better in the Seventies.

Along with others who were born in the late Sixties, I felt that seeing the new *Bad News Bears* was somehow mandatory, if only to indulge in the guilty pleasure of nostalgia. We all knew it would suck, didn't we? -- but we had to see it anyway.

Let it be said at once that Billy Bob Thornton as Coach Buttermaker is quite a come-down from the immortal Walter Matthau in the same role. Since the script of this new version is quite identical to the original, much of the degradation displayed here must be put at the feet of Thornton, a notorious ad-libber. None of us, young or old, need to be subjected to exclamations such as "You guys look like the last s--t I took." Or to hear copious references to Greg Kinnear's family jewels.

But whether through the script or through Thornton's egregious improvising, director Richard Linklater reveals a complete lack of control. Evidently, the best that he feels he can do with this material is to allow it to subside deeper into crassness than the original. The whole enterprise becomes a dreary exercise in upping the ante: Matthau's Buttermaker was a pool cleaner; Thornton's Buttermaker is a rat-exterminator . . . in the '76 version, the Bears are sponsored by Chico's Bail Bonds; in the 2005 version, they're sponsored by a strip-club. Get the idea? What had been a gritty, rather incisive look at everyday Americana has become merely an exercise in crudity. This degeneration of standards can legitimately be argued away as the eternal complaint of the old, but the feeling persists that the original *Bad News Bears* was still made for KIDS, despite the more realistic dialog, situations, and characters. (And Matthau was never a scene-stealer; Tatum O'Neal shone just as brightly as he did. And rightly so.) The Little Leaguers in this film are sadly subordinate to the leering Coach -- guess who the intended audience is? (Hint: not kids.)

By the way -- speaking of come-downs -- the iconic role of bad-boy Kelly Leak as portrayed by the super-iconic Jackie Earl Haley has been utterly neutered, here. The new Kelly is played by some incipient Calvin Klein model pretending to be a skate-punk. Pee-yew, man. Hey Jackie Earl, wherever you are: your status as the preeminent prepubescent bad-ass is, like, totally safe.

1 star out of 10.