It's a C/C+

I was excited about this from the moment it was announced. I've been harboring a deep inner hope for a while that this could be a wonderful film. The original's wonderfully cranky. You've got Billy Bob Thornton seemingly reprising is BAD SANTA character, from the same writers. Then there's Linklater, who, with SCHOOL OF ROCK, showed that he could make magic from even the lamest of moppet-filled premises. Lots of potential.

But, despite there being a few laughs, the movie's a disappointment. It's biggest problem was its strict adherence to the original; entire dialogues are taken directly from the film. They made sure to jam in seemingly every single plot point from the original. The movie has some good, subversive ideas of its own (stripper cheerleaders, wheelchair-bound player), but it's strict adherence to the first one never allows it to take flight. It just sits there, being moderately diverting, but making you wish Linklater would give it his own spin.

And the kids consist of all the typical obnoxious cloying "movie brats" that Linklater did such a good job of avoiding in SCHOOL OF ROCK. I can't even begin to describe the exercise in pure awfulness that was the performance of Sammi Kraft as Amanda. The other kids are embarrassing; she's something else entirely.

On the other hand, there's Thornton. It's not as brave and alive and hilarious as his home run in BAD SANTA, but he hits a solid Double with this performance. He could play this role in his sleep, but that's not a knock on the performace; he adds quite a bit of depth in unexpected places. Plus, he looks like he's having fun, and in a movie like this, that's vitally important.

So, in summation, Billy Bob's good, everybody else is not. It's occasionally funny, but there's really no reason to see it if you love the original. I'd rent it at some point down the line though. There's enough good one-liners and other bits of business to keep you entertained.

Also, it's about too long by 15 minutes. Love that poster, though.

I pretty much agree with what voshue said up above, except I think I liked the kids more, and I enjoyed the movie more. But the fact that this was pretty much a 95% shot to shot/same plot point remake of the original, lower's my grade significantly. If you haven't seen the original, I think you will enjoy the film very much, hell you will probably still like it even if you have seen the original, but it's nowhere near as good.

B

Walked into this movie and it was OK / good - like the others said depending on if you saw the first.

One thing I couldn't believe the amount of nasty language as there were so many families and little kids in the theater - it had worse language than that in Wedding Crashers but WC had nudity and sexual material.

Maybe I was more aware of this because I was sitting behind a family with 2 boys / girls who seemed about 7 & 10.

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Anyone know the rating - had to be PG-13.

OK but not really a true family movie like Herbie or others I guess.

BNB was PG-13 because it didn't contain the word fuck at all. WC has the word fuck many times. That's the difference between both movies and their ratings. Well that and the nudity that you already mentioned.

Morris Buttermaker (Billy Bob Thornton, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) is a grizzled and acerbic exterminator in California who once was an MLB athlete... for less than one inning. Banned from the majors for violence, he's now struggling to come up with the rent for his trailer, estranged from his former stepdaughter Amanda (Sammi Kraft), and a severe alcoholic. And now he's been hired by lawyer Liz Whitewood (Marcia Gay Harden, MYSTIC RIVER) to coach her son's (Ridge Canipe, "Angel") baseball team. Liz sued the league when her son and other untalented players were forced out and not allowed to play. A court settlement led to the creation of the Bears, a team consisting solely of misfit players.

The Bears are racially-diverse, as white, African American, Hispanic, and Armenian players are on the team. There is even a paraplegic (Troy Gentile), but they're all united in that none of them are remotely talented baseball players. Their first game reflects this, as their low self-esteem and Morris' uncaring and unhelpful coaching tactics lead to a slaughter on the diamond. But Morris then decides to try and turn the team around with the help of his former stepdaughter, a talented pitcher, and a local rebel (Jeff Davies), a powerful hitter. This gives the Bears a fighting chance of facing their sworn enemies, a team led by a "winning-is-everything" coach (Greg Kinnear, GODSEND), in the championship game.

BAD NEWS BEARS, based on the 70s film starring Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal, is a continuation from previous films for both director and star. Director Richard Linklater (BEFORE SUNSET) re-uses the same formula he used for the sleeper hit comedy SCHOOL OF ROCK by placing an unready adult character into a situation involving a large group of children... resulting in hilarity. And star Thornton once again plays a gruff alcoholic who life is changed by interacting with a child or a group of children. He first did this in BAD SANTA and now does it again here. In terms of these three films, BAD NEWS BEARS cannot reach the same amount of creativity and excitement as SCHOOL OF ROCK, but its far better and much funnier than the overly crude and disappointing BAD SANTA.

Thornton appears in every scene of BAD NEWS BEARS and provides the sports comedy with a pulse and once again proves to be a largely untapped comedic talent. As the Bears' coach, he's appropriately cynical and rude, but never so cynical and rude we don't care about him, which happened in BAD SANTA. Set against Thornton is a large supporting cast of child actors, mostly with little-to-no prior film experience. Paramount Pictures held auditions for baseball-playing actors in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, Dallas, Vancouver, New Orleans, Atlanta, Seattle, Orlando, and Washington D.C. This wide-sweeping search revealed a wealth of under-15 talent. Standouts are Kraft as Thornton's reasonable and sweet ex-stepdaughter, Davies as the fierce rebel who joins the team in the second act, and Tyler Patrick Jones (who had small parts in RED DRAGON and MINORITY REPORT as Edward Norton and Tom Cruise's sons) as sensitive and eccentric Timothy Lupus. There are two other adult co-stars: Kinnear and Harden. She's amusing as one of those "do it all" women who have power lunches and enjoy being involved in everyone's business, but she's not seen much and a romantic scene between her and Thornton is annoying (I'll explain why further down). He's appropriately cool and calculating, but not award-worthy. I did enjoy how he's shown as someone who's a little too heated when it comes to competition, not a completely sinister villian. This is Thornton and the children's show, even if Harden and Kinnear have high billing.

Linklater continues to impress as a director (in both mainstream and independent circles). His new BAD NEWS BEARS has the original's "screw-all-who're-socially-correct" humor, but behind the profanity and on-the-diamond brawls is a truly sweet disposition and the innocence baseball diamonds with freshly-cut grass and blazing overhead lights can provide. The director also plays with old baseball cliches, notably the opening shot. Typically these films open with the hero as a child playing baseball with a friend in suburbia and BAD NEWS BEARS is no different... except its revealed the children who we see are simply residents of a rodent-infested house Thornton has been called to as an exterminator. And, realizing he's late for the Bears' first practice, he leaves the family surrounded by rats in their kitchen. This is a great character introduction and a hilarious first run for a baseball comedy.

But this isn't quite a grand slam, mainly due to editor Sandra Adair's (DAZED AND CONFUSED) lax performance. At nearly two hours, BAD NEWS BEARS is at least twenty minutes too long and, even if the cast is affable and director of photography Rogier Stoffers' (JOHN Q) California imagery beautiful in its sunny simplicity, the too-long running time is simply very, very detrimental. The championship game is interminable and feels all too long. Watching a baseball game is fun in real life, but, on film, they should be edited down to the important moments. Here we see the Bears moving their roster as if in real time. Also, certain subplots are needless. There is a romantic encounter between Harden and Thornton which feels out-of-place, mainly because it starts and ends in the course of five minutes. The two have implied sex and never interact romantically again during the film. If this film had run 100 minutes instead of nearly 120, it may've been a much more pleasing affair. Goes to show editing is where a film can be made, preserved, or ruined.

As it stands, BAD NEWS BEARS won't become a classic as the original did. But as a summer film in a summer where fun is hard to find and the best releases (WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE ISLAND, BATMAN BEGINS) are harrowing and oft-fatalistic experiences, BAD NEWS BEAR is a breath of fresh air and a sweetly simple, easy-to-watch little movie.

7/10 or B-

Some questions

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As with Willy Wonka, any comments on the 1976 movie in which I thought both Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal were great but that is based on memory.

But thinking back, I really thought Tatum O'Neal was great in that role.

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And on Billy Bob, I personally liked him better in Bad Santa than this one - I just thought that the cursing was too over the top.

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In 2003, Richard Linklater brought SCHOOL OF ROCK to cinemas nationwide. Its inventive brand of humor and childlike innocence made it one of the biggest surprise hits of the year, grossing over 80 Million in its U.S. release and turning Jack Black into a major star. One of the reasons the film worked so well was its talented cast of youngsters. Linklater cast unknowns in the roles instead of famous child stars, and it worked wonderfully. Most of the children were spectacular and believable, capturing the hearts of people everywhere. This year, Linklater returns to the screen with BAD NEWS BEARS, a remake of the 1976 film of the same name which also features a cast full of bumbling youngsters. Unfortunately, while the film itself is decent overall, one can't forget the genius that we witnessed back just two short years ago.

Taking over for Walter Matthau, Billy Bob Thornton stars as Morris Buttermaker, a down-on-his-luck alcoholic who becomes the new coach of the Bears, a baseball team full of young adult misfits who know nothing about the game. At first they are horrible, with everyone considering them the worst in the league. But in a moment of inspiration, Buttermaker recruits two new players - Amanda (Sammi Kraft), a young girl who he looks at as a daughter, and Kelly (Jeff Davies), a self-proclaimed bad boy. Eventually the team who no one believed in starts winning, thereby teaching Morris a thing or two about life in general and inspiring him to become a better role model for the kids. The story is fairly cliche and predictable, but it works because of the surprising harshness and cynicism. Like the original, this film isn't afraid to hold back and many of the children use obscenties frequently. This makes the comedy work and keeps the audience intrigued.

I was a huge fan of SCHOOL OF ROCK. I initially thought that it looked average, but I ended up seeing it opening weekend with low expectations. I was not disappointed. It was truly one of the sweetest and most enjoyable films I had seen in quite a while. This was the main reason I wanted to see BAD NEWS BEARS. I'm not a huge fan of Billy Bob Thornton, especially in sports films (I found FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS to be one of last year's most overrated). Plus, the trailers were extremely mediocre. But I decided that I would go ahead and give it a chance. After all, I thought SCHOOL OF ROCK wasn't going to be great either. So I decided to go and see it with low expectations.

Billy Bob Thornton is solid as the disgruntled coach, but he basically plays the same character that he did in BAD SANTA. He still makes a respectable effort though and should definitely be acknowledged. Sammi Kraft does a great job and is definitely a face to watch. She gives the best performance in the film. The rest of the cast is a mixed bag. Greg Kinnear is underused as a rival coach, as is Marcia Gay Harden as a concerned mother. The children range from decent to horrible. Troy Gentile is the highlight as a handicapped member of the team and Kenneth Harris is solid as another member. The worst is Davies, who sounds monotone with every line that he says and puts no emotion or energy into his role.

Linklater does a good job again at directing the film. He keeps a lot of the original's wit and sarcasm but also makes the film a slightly sweet and inspiring tale with a good message. His visual style is present here and he does a good job. The screenplay is the real treat. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who also worked with Thornton on BAD SANTA, add a lot of humor to the story which makes it really enjoyable. The backdrop is appealing and the scenery is nice as well, another one of the film's strong points. However, it runs too long for its own good. This could have easily been an hour and a half, but instead it is stretched out to the two-hour limit, and I felt that several scenes could have been eliminated altogether.

Overall, BAD NEWS BEARS is an enjoyable summer film, but don't go in expecting another SCHOOL OF ROCK. It is a solid effort, though, and is definitely better than this summer's other sports-themed remake THE LONGEST YARD. Thornton and Kraft are the scene-stealers here and should keep you interested from beginning to end.

6/10 (B-)

The Bad News Bears was funny, but I was somewhat dissapointed.

It didn't quite live up to Bad Santa, and Billy Bob Thornton worked much better in that film than this one. However, it wasn't all that bad. The kids of the team were decent, but overall, the movie wasn't anything special. The School of Rock was a billion times better.

C+

Bad News Bears

It isnt the best movie, but it is damn funny and enjoyble
The kids were great, especially the little blonde one!

B

C+

It had it's funny moments, but at the same time it felt completley pointless.

"Yeah, well I heard he puts money under your pillow when you sleep!"

"That's the tooth-fairy you fucking homo!"

B


To my big surprise I really enjoyed it. Before I further elaborate on it, though, I need to mention that I have never seen the original, nor have I seen Bad Santa. I completely dug Billy Bob Thrnton's character in this one and the first half of the film gave me great laughs. Usually I'm not really a fan of similar "burnout coach trains a group of kids"-films. Kicming and Screaming was very mediocre and Rebound was simply bad and utterly clichéd. This one was distinctly different. Well, maybe not that distinctly as it still had its number of token characters doing token things, but it had an edge that all of the other films of this kind don't have (thus the PG-13 rating, I guess, as opposed to PG). Billy Bob Thornton put in a great and inspired performance as the jerk of a trainer and I loved the occasional political incorrectness of this one (like having a paraplegic player on the team). I really laughed outloud several times during the film to my big surprise.

What really brought the film down was the rather dry ending part. The final game of the Bears just dragged on waaayy too long. It felt as if it lasted 30 minutes which brought the overall movie running time to over 100 minutes. I think it'd have been well off with 10 minutes less at least.

All in all, I had good fun at the movie (being the only person in the empty theatre showing it), mostly due to Thornton's part.

It has a lot of luagh out loud moments but then some really boring parts. Overall a decent comedy with a funny Billy Bob Thornton.

B-