Dir.
Richard Linklater, US, 2005, 113 mins
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Marcia Gay Haden, Greg Kinnear
As a filmmaker Linklater is fascinating - his films range from the ridiculous (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) to the sublime (Before Sunrise , Before Sunset) and beyond that to the very special (Waking Life and the in-production Through A Scanner Darkly).
Now Linklater brings us this 2005 'remix' of the Bears' story, paying homage to the 1976 original which takes a light-hearted look at coaching American Little-League baseball.
Morris Buttermaker, who spent about thirty seconds in the Minor Leagues a long-long time ago, is a down-on-his-luck drunk who makes his living killing rats.
Billy Bob Thornton is more Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own than Walter Matthau in the original Bad News Bears of '76 but if you enjoy BBT's laid-back approach to performance and his nonchalant on-camera twinkle, you'll definitely enjoy him here.
Bribed into coaching by a lawyer-mom (nattily-outfitted Marcia Gay Haden) who took out an injunction against the Little-League until all kids could play, even the no-talent misfits, Morris is a disinclined and lukewarm coach until his opposite number, the coach for the Yankees (a very neatly-packaged Greg Kinnear), winds him up with some old-school disrespect.
His pride stung, Morris adds to the team his estranged daughter Amanda Whurlitzer - who pitches like a girl - and an anti-social skater-boy, the home-run belter Kelly Leak. With some old fashioned fitness training, along with bat-ball skills and a side of 'this-is-America' sport-skulduggery, Buttermaker teaches the kids a thing or two about baseball and everybody grows up a little, but not too much.
The dialogue is, for the most part, nice 'n' crispy. Aimed predominantly at the pre-pubescent audience with humour tending to the potty-mouth, this is nonetheless a laugh-out-loud-in-places family film (from the writer's of Bad Santa, working with the screenplay of the original) - perfect for a Sunday afternoon in the long summer holiday.
Although resting on a reliable plot, the film does have some zing and is predominantly well made and nicely shot with the occasional foray into adolescent visual pranks (spot the bus-bench).
Interesting soundtrack choices move the film along well, particularly during the baseball-game montages. The story is told gently and the inevitable sentiment is handled smoothly without becoming schlock.
The movie-meal metaphor for this production of Bad News Bears is obvious:- a sugary snack with some nutritive value, mainly aimed at pre-high-school kids.
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