Review of The Benchwarmers (2006) by Peter D — 19 Feb 2013

Every 7 minutes a kid in the United States is experiencing some form of bullying. The Benchwarmers fights for the "little guys", the ones who get bullied and don't get respect. Bullying can sometimes lead to permanent mental scares and memories that never go away. The movie contains a strong moral message about relieving the pain that bullies can cause, as well as asking forgiveness from other individuals who have caused harm.

Gus (Rob Schneider), a local landscaper, gathers his nerd friends Richie, the lonely nerd recommending sex films (David Spade), and Clark, the local newspaper boy (Jon Heder), to form a baseball team of 3 (Outfielder, Pitcher, and Catcher). Their goal is to beat little league teams consisting of 9 players, so they can inflict revenge upon the bullies, while creating an environment where nerds and jocks would be able to play baseball together. Jon Heder deserves credit for channeling his Napoleon Dynamite character without duplicating him. Rob Schneider takes charge but refrains from dominating, while David Spade provides a perfect mastermind for Heder's foolishness. In The Benchwarmers, the actors do a suburb job at keeping it hilarious and sticking to the moral message even without Adam Sandler in the Happy Madison Production.

Happy Madison Productions is founded by Adam Sandler, and as a result the movies created by the Happy Madison Production Company often contain the same actors. This is because they are friends of Adam Sandler and they receive worthy reviews, but it doesn't matter who the lead actor is for the productions, because they constantly bring out the laughs. The Benchwarmers still feels like a combination of previous efforts, like The Waterboy, where someone unexpected is brilliant at a particular game, while both dealing with dilemmas against bullies. The comedies that are created by Happy Madison Productions link together and come up with amusing dialogue and incidences where the one who gets bullied comes out on top.

The positive elements are laced with amusing humor and foul language. There are some jokes about dwarves that some may find offensive but the audience will get plenty of good laughs. The dialogue may be immature at times like when Richie says, "Steroids make your 'peepee' small" and Clark answers, "There must be steroids in my mac and cheese", but it keeps the spectators entertained and laughing throughout the movie, while sticking up for the ones who get bullied in a funny manner. When a bully says, "Time to make your makers" and Clark responds, "Makers of what? POOP?" The quote shows how the jokes are immature, but also indicates how the ones who are getting bullied are sticking up for themselves.

Anyone who goes to see The Benchwarmers and has liked any previous movies produced by the Happy Madison production will almost certainly enjoy this one as well. The film is impressively done with witty quotes, which makes it oddly funny. The Benchwarmers is not for anyone younger than 13. Fans of the Happy Madison productions will not be let down and it asks people to understand what bullying leads to and it achieves it in a humorous manner.