The Benchwarmers (2006)

A trio of guys try and make up for missed opportunities in childhood by forming a three-player baseball team to compete against standard children baseball squads.

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers:

Allen Covert, Nick Swardson

Stars:

Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jon Heder

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rob Schneider	...	Gus
David Spade	...	Richie
Jon Heder	...	Clark
Jon Lovitz	...	Mel
Craig Kilborn	...	Jerry
Molly Sims	...	Liz
Tim Meadows	...	Wayne
Nick Swardson	...	Howie
Erinn Bartlett	...	Salad Girl / Sarah
Amaury Nolasco	...	Carlos
Bill Romanowski	...	Karl
Sean Salisbury	...	Brad
Matt Weinberg	...	Kyle
John Farley	...	Swimmer Boy
Reggie Jackson	...	Himself

Storyline

Three guys, all their lives, have been living in the shadow of bullies and are determined not to take it anymore. Now they must train with the help of Mel to take on the most offensive and meanest youth baseball teams.

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Plot Keywords:

team | baseball | bully | baseball team | friend | 

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Taglines:

When push comes to shove... they'll have to settle their problems like men.

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Genres:

Comedy | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and suggestive humor, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 April 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Bankdrücker

Filming Locations:

Chino Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$33,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$56,316 (South Africa) (28 July 2006)

Gross:

$119,286 (South Africa) (28 July 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revolution Studios, Happy Madison Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 75 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The stadium built for the final game features architectural details borrowed from several Major League parks: Yankee Stadium since 70s (the "wedding-cake" trim on top of the bleachers' wall), Wrigley Field (the brick-and-ivy fences), Fenway Park (the Green Monster fence) and Chase Field (the pool area behind right field).

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Goofs

Throughout the movie the kids are watching the game via the Internet. They are using Netzero dial up but are watching the game at Broadband speed.

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Quotes

Kyle: I'm gonna call the cops!
Clark: We are cops!... We're navy seals!
Kyle: Navy seals aren't cops!
Troy: Aren't you our paperboy?
Clark: ...I'm undercover

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Connections

References Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Fire It Up"
Written by Victor Beasley, Brandi Nicole Adams, Victor Clark, Asani Charles and Bryan Bonwell
Performed by King Ashoka featuring Ambush
Courtesy of Spirit Music Group o/b/o Bzee Roc Music Group

User Reviews

Enjoyably stupid but not exactly good.

I was expecting The Benchwarmers to be an overall pretty bad unfunny movie, based on the reviews and average rating it has, with the possibility of occasionally succeeding in fleeting moments as is often the case with stupid comedies. In a sense, that's exactly what it amounted to although somehow the movie managed to be watchable even when many of the jokes were missing - to it's credit it's quite fast-paced (this contributes to the movie making even less sense, not that it matters).

The plot for The Benchwarmers has nothing original to offer - basically it's about three nerds (Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder) that play a bunch of baseball games against various teams of kids. The movie is never intended to be taken seriously so the abundance of clichés is forgivable. But where the movie fails is in the lack of original humour. Classics of the stupid comedy genre such as Zoolander and Dodgeball explored new ground whereas The Benchwarmers retreats to familiar styles of comedy with the occasional stroke of genius (or perhaps that should be idiocy).

Overall, I found the movie quite enjoyable. There were a few little parts I found quite hilarious and probably won't forget for quite some time to come. Even the standard reflective speech(es) near the end came across as sincere and not completely worthless. There are also a number of familiar faces (and cameos) which help move things along. Rob Schneider, David Spade, Nick Swardson and Jon Lovitz are all good in their parts whilst Jon Heder seems to be stuck in his Napolean Dynamite character. But unfortunately these are not enough to change the fact that this is not a good movie. It is decent enough entertainment for its running time though.