Bad News Bears
The last time Billy Bob Thornton starred opposite a youngster was in the very dark, very R-rated comedy "Bad Santa," which, depending on your tastes, was either cringingly funny or an assault and an affront to the yuletime holiday.Thornton has re-teamed with the "Bad Santa" screenwriters and appears opposite more than one youngster in the remake of the 1976 Little League baseball comedy "Bad News Bears." And what else is new? It's a rude, crude and politically incorrect film that definitely earns its PG-13 rating.
But anyone who thinks this version is completely sick needs to go back and watch the even-rawer original. If anything, the remake pales in comparison. The original would never, ever get a PG rating today (as it did originally).
The new version follows the story structure pretty closely. Thornton assumes the Walter Matthau role of Morris Buttermaker, a failed Major League Baseball pitcher who's now working a dead-end job as an exterminator.
He's been asked to coach the Bears, a Little League team created to address the concerns of one litigious mother, Liz Whitewood (Marcia Gay Harden), who wants her son, Toby (Ridge Canipe), to be able to play.
But they'll need even more than Amanda's nearly unhittable fastball to win. Enter Kelly Leak (Jeffrey Davies), a flaky but talented player who wants to win and take revenge on his win-at-all-costs former coach, Ray Bullock (Greg Kinnear).
The four-letter dialogue and crude humor and references mean this one isn't for all tastes. And director Richard Linklater's pacing is a little slow.
But if you can stand the assault on your senses, you may discover that there's a good message underneath (one about not excluding people based on supposed "handicaps"), and Thornton gets off some very funny one-liners.
A lot of his co-stars are newcomers, but they acquit themselves quite nicely, and Kinnear seems to take delight in playing the film's villain.
"Bad News Bears" is rated PG-13 for frequent use of strong profanity, crude references and humor about bodily and sexual functions, violence (baseball diamond scuffles, done for laughs), drug references and racial epithets. Running time: 111 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com