Posted: 08/05/2005

Bad News Bears

(2005)

by Clint Fletcher

The summer hits just keep on rolling as this weekend brings us two new kickass movies- one a thriller (The Island) and the other a remake of a 70’s classic known to many as the filthiest Sports movie of all time, The Bad News Bears. Much like the original, the remake’s filled with laughs, filth and lots of alcohol. And who better to bring on the filth and the booze like Billy Bob Thornton.

After making a comedic name for himself as a trailer-trash loser in Bad Santa, Thornton does it all again here. But just to clear up the confusion, even though the Bad News Bears stars Billy Bob as a mean alcoholic and is produced by the same people as Bad Santa, this is NOT a spin-off of Bad Santa. As a matter of fact, this film stays very true to its original, keeping all its memorable characters (Tanner, Amanda, Kelly and Coach Buttermaker) exactly the same. Tanner still cusses, Amanda’s still butch, Kelly’s still a badass and Buttermaker still downs the booze. Hell, it was even written by the same dude and yes he’s still alive. The only difference is, it’s a new century now and PG-13 movies can get away with a lot of filth nowadays. I’d like to go back and count how many jokes Thornton makes on race and crippled kids. My kind of humor!

Thornton stars as Buttermaker, a trailer-trash ex-pro baseball player who hates his life and decides to coach baseball simply because he needs money. But of course when he grows emotionally attached to the kids, he starts to give a rat’s ass and buckles down to teach the kids all he knows about baseball. There’s an automatic downfall to the plot here that I’m sure even affected the original. The downfall is this- the core of the movie is based on how mean this character is, and when he starts softening up in the second act, so do the jokes. I wish their were a way to keep Billy-Bob mean until the end credits roll, but sadly there’s a Hollywood rule that forces main characters to head down the good path and do something with their lives. But why? He was still mean in Bad Santa while learning a lesson, wasn’t he? When Thornton’s ruthless (but hilarious) attitude dies down, so does the movie. Without his edge you don’t care much about the team or whether they even win in the end, you just want Thornton to throw a beer can at somebody’s head again so you can laugh about it.

In the long run, Bad News Bears is definitely worth a watch despite whether you’re a fan of the original or not. If you liked Bad Santa then you’ll dig this flick. As far as grading it as a baseball movie, this is Thornton’s show here and he plays it well for the most part, but the script could’ve been adapted to any sport and we wouldn’t really care. Besides needing a boost of energy in its second half, Bad News Bears is a fun treat for those of you that like your movies with a little dirt on them.

Clint Fletcher is a film critic, filmmaker, and gadabout living in The City of Lost Angeles.

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