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Back Shelf Beauties
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Bad News Bears It feels like the 1970's all over again with remakes of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Dukes of Hazzard and The Bad News Bears, but not everything groovy in the 70's is off the hook in the year 2005. Here's a perfect example. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Buttermaker - a former major league baseball pitcher turned exterminator who has financial troubles. To make a few extra dollars, he agrees to coach a little league baseball team formed from all of the rejected kids after Ms. Whitewood (Marcia Gay Harden) sued because they cut her unathletic son from the league. Stuck with a motley crew of inept, untalented and misbehaved children, Buttermaker isn't excited to do anything but collect his paycheck. However, he decides to coach them up to snuff after his competitive fire is stoked by the league's leading coach and all around jerk, Bullock (Greg Kinnear). Can the Bears win the championship? Can they win a game? Sure, you'll feel a bit ashamed laughing at the raunchy, tasteless humor, but it's a dark theater and no one will know it is you. Sadly, Bad News Bears is like a baseball player struggling in the minors. It has all of the tools to succeed, but fails to execute at key moments (OK, maybe it's more like the New York Mets). Directed by the talented Richard Linklater, written by the guys who brought you the sadistically hilarious Bad Santa, John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (based on the original screenplay by Bill Lancaster), and starring one of the most talented actors in the business, Bad News Bears should be much funnier and much better made than it is. The movie is horribly edited, which makes it feel like you are ambling from scene to scene with some funny moments, but no overall cohesion. It's a movie where stuff happens instead of Linklater developing the story with a smooth flow. Even worse, Linklater, Requa and Ficarra don't take advantage of some possible running gags that could evolve and repeat throughout the movie like excuses by the kid in a wheelchair who doesn't really want to play or Engelberg's love of food. Linklater also fails to get consistent performances from the cast of youngsters. Your favorite characters from the original are back, and sometimes participate in funny scenes, but Linklater fails to get great performances out of each kid. While Timmy Deters does a wonderful job bringing the needed spunk and attitude to Tanner - the little blonde kid willing to fight anyone of any size, and Tyler Patrick Jones shows us the shyness and awkwardness in little Timothy Lupus, Linklater should have worked with Jeff Davies to make Kelly Leak a more interesting and lively character. Leak is a crucial character in this movie as the delinquent, sassy, troublemaking kid who just wants to play baseball like everyone else, but Davies sleepwalks through the movie (get this kid a Mountain Dew or espresso). Is he supposed to be so cool and laid back he barely keeps his eyes open? Is this some hint about recreational activities? We need to know more about this character and we need Davies to put in a much better performance. The movie is not a total waste. We get some funny moments like Buttermaker's less than inspiring speeches, his first batting practice with the kids and his overall outrageous and inappropriate statements, but some good jokes don't make the entire movie worth going to see. He curses like Michelangelo uses a brush to paint, and Thornton is putting in a great performance, but it's lost among all of the problems. Buttermaker isn't properly developed throughout the movie. He starts as an irascible, drunken lout, then starts to get nice as we learn more about his career and kid. However, and editing could be to blame for this, Buttermaker becomes a jerk again. Then, shockingly, becomes a nice guy because of one incident in the middle of a game. We aren't shown how the competition changes his behavior or how his rivalry with another coach makes him push the kids harder, it just happens. Worst of all, Bad News Bears has several huge continuity problems. Leak gets chewed out and refuses to play well, but suddenly and unexpectedly does well for no reason and without the necessary apology from the person who yelled at him. In another example, kids bat out of order in a crucial game, which works dramatically if you didn't notice it (the who kid bats before Leak is told to take one for the team, but later bats after Leak and must get a big hit to save the game). Bad News Bears has its share of hilarious moments, but it doesn't flow together the way a movie should, especially with this many talented people involved. 1 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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