By Ryan Parsons | Images property of Paramount Pictures
Bad News Bears
After watching the re-make of the 1976 film Bad
News Bears, I could only think to myself that I liked
Bad Santa better. Why? Well, here we again have Billy Bob Thornton
as a funny, kind of loveable, scumbag that seems to have quite a few crude,
awkward, and sometimes-witty one-liners under his sleeve. I kept wondering
if this Bad Santa was put on parole and his punishment was to coach a little
league baseball team filled with kids who can be humorous, or obnoxious,
depending on how you look at it.
Bad News Bears Movie Review
To be honest, I might sound as if I am being a
little too hard on Bad News Bears, which I could be. However, after
watching the romantic comedy Wedding
Crashers last week I was reminded of how great comedic
films can be; but Bad News Bears did not fit that profile. Directed
by Richard Linklater [The School of Rock, Dazed and Confused,
A Scanner Darkly], Bad News Bears is about a team of rejects
who learn what it is to be a team and, more importantly, how to enjoy the
sport of baseball. The only thing that makes learning these skills hard
is the fact that the coach is Morris Buttermaker [Billy Bob Thornton], an
ex-pro pitcher who is a functioning alcoholic and admits to quitting everything
he has ever tried at.
Bad News Bears
Thornton's character obviously represents about
fifty percent of the comedy behind Bad News Bears. We can throw
another twenty-five percent to Greg Kinnear as the overbearing baseball
coach and the other twenty-five percent to the obnoxious kids. The only
problem is that each one of these three elements can at times go past humorous
and become obnoxious. It also hurts that most of the Bad News Bears
children are not the best actors to come to the big screen either. Some
of the dialogue, whether poorly written or performed, just didn't mix properly.
The only people I would suggest Bad News Bears to are those who
absolutely loved Bad Santa and cannot wait to see even a few more
minutes of Billy Bob Thornton as a humorous scumbag or those of you who
have children and need the proper mix of adult humor in a 'family film.'
Other than that, you may just want to stick with the original... or go rent
Bad Santa.
Bad News Bears
Bad News Bears
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