Review of Bad News Bears (2005) by Jason D — 23 Jun 2009

In the current shitstorm of Hollywood remakes, someone thought it would be a good idea to remake the timeless classic, The Bad News Bears, starring Walter Matthau as a disgruntled, drunken, minor leaguer who has to coach the worst little league team made up of equally bad children.

In this update, directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused and starring Billy Bob Thornton, whom I thought both would certainly help persuade me on the idea of a BNB remake, don't actually add anything new to the story other than a modernized look.

Billy Bob Thornton pretty much continues his Bad Santa character (the PG-13 version anyways) and offers nothing unique to the film like Matthau ever did. The kids are alright, but none of them really stood out.

Greg Kinnear gave a decent performance as the film a-hole, but Marcia Gay Harden (who looks pretty damn good at her age) wasn't given a good enough role. All in all, this film was kind of a disappointment, but I'd say it's a decent enough time-killer as there are a few funny moments, albeit PG-13 funny moments, but funny regardless.

Prior to playing in Bad Santa, Thornton used to play unique and pretty diverse characters (Sling Blade, U-turn, etc), however he is seriously riding the coattails of this Bad Santa persona way too hard (perhaps because that seems to be his real life character as per the attention he's gotten lately for his bad attitude).

I can only hope he doesn't continue this trend, though he already has in 4 separate roles AFTER Bad News Bears. I'm sure you can guess which ones.