3/10
Series hits trainwreck point.....now
31 March 2011
"Hey Mr. Berenger! Would you like to play your character Jake Taylor in Major League 3?" "No thanks." "Please!" "Nope." "Mr. Sheen, would you consider reprising your role as Wild Thing in Major League 3?" "Nope." "Please!" "Nope." "Mr. Bernsen, would you like to reprise your role as Roger Dorn for Major League 3?" "Why not?" "Yeah, we can make an unnecessary sequel!" That my friends is quite possibly how Major League: Back to the Minors got made. Or was it the fact that around the time this film was made the Cleveland Indians were winning and making a film about a group of misfit underdogs on the same team that is really doing well in real life would be a curse? Regardless, it should've been left alone. Now we got a nice, nearly unrelated sequel leaching off of the Major League.

David S. Ward, director of both previous films, as been docked down to co writer of this mess. Something told me that even he wasn't fully on board with this film. Back to the Minors turns the tables from the Indians to the Minnesota Twins, the team Roger Dorn (Bernsen) now owns. The film focuses on Gus Cantrell (Bakula), a minor league pitcher for a team called the Fort Myers Miracle.

Roger offers Gus a job coaching the Twins' minor league affiliate the South Carolina Buzz. Two of the members from the Cleveland Indians team return. Those are Pedro Cerrano (Haysbert) and Taka Tanaka (Takaaki Ishibashi). Wonderful because I wasn't too big of a fan of Cerrano and couldn't stand Tanaka.

When you can't get the two leads who made a film what it was, don't make a sequel to a film without them. Don't think a crappy spin off is treating the fans to something special. It isn't.

Thank the lord Bob Uecker reprises his role as the alcoholic Indians announcer. But this time he is announcing the Buzz? The film doesn't even provide an answer to why Cerrano, Tanaka, and the announcer are now with the Buzz. They all looked great last season, why did the Indians trade them? Is Jake Taylor still the manager of the Indians? Did the team trade Wild Thing? Did they win the World Series? The film doesn't provide the answer to questions fans are asking.

Major League: Back to the Minors is now the big wart on the entire franchise. There never needed to be a third film. The idea should've been scrapped when Berenger and Sheen said they wouldn't return. But of course, the money is what matters. Not even James Gammon comes back as a cameo. This film is one of the most tasteless and lackadaisical sequels I've ever seen.

Though it was this film that made me realize Corbin Bernsen, Roger Dorn in the film, would later go on to play the father in I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, my favorite holiday film. It was good for that.

Starring: Scott Bakula, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, Ted McGinley, Takaaki Ishibashi, and Bob Uecker. Directed by: John Warren.
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