The Benchwarmers (2006)

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers (WGA):

Allen Covert (written by) &
Nick Swardson (written by)

Release Date:

7 April 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Sport

Tagline:

Get off the bench and get into the game.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Team | Baseball | Bully | Baseball Player | Paperboy

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

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

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

80 min | Philippines:75 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | UK:12A | Australia:PG | Ireland:12A | Malaysia:U | USA:PG-13 (certificate #42005) | Philippines:PG-13 | Hungary:14 | Finland:K-11 | Iceland:10 | Germany:o.Al. | Netherlands:AL | South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | New Zealand:PG

Filming Locations:

Chino Hills, California, USA

Company:

Revolution Studios

Trivia:

The issue with the player with the fake birth certificate really happened. Danny Almonte, originally from the Dominican Republic, playing for a US team from New York was found to be too old. He was actually 14, not 12, the cut-off age. He had a forged birth certificate. His team had won their regional competition and were eliminated in the semifinals of the Little League World Series but, as a result of the scandal, the entire team was disqualified, had their records erased and the coach banned for life from Little League baseball.

Goofs:

Factual errors: 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.

Quotes:

Marcus Ellwood: Do you still think I look like Yoda?
Gus: No.
Marcus Ellwood: But Yoda's my favorite! You're a bad, bad man!

Movie Connections:

References Just Married (2003)

Soundtrack:

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

If you liked the trailer, see this movie. If you hated the trailer, avoid this movie. It's that simple.

"The Benchwarmers" is about 3 older guys named Gus (Rob Schnieder), Richie (David Spade) and Clark (Jon Heder) who start a baseball league against the bullies in the neighborhood. After a huge crowd comes out to support the team, the guys decide to enter a competition with the bullies. The winner will get a brand new stadium. Lots of immature laughs ensue…

After walking out of "The Benchwarmers" I realized one thing. That this movie is exactly like the trailer and television spots made it out to be. This means that if you didn't find the trailer funny or amusing avoid this film because the odds are you won't like it. I, however, did enjoy the film. It's not a great masterpiece or anything like that but more of an immature film that you can laugh at and remember what it is like being a kid.

I took three of my little brothers to see the film with me and all of them really enjoyed it. Just hearing them laugh and get such a kick out of it made the film just a tad better for me. This movie is childish by its very nature. All the characters in the film reminded me of watching little kids which in my opinion was amusing seeing grown men act this way. It was funny and amusing not to mention contained a whole slue of memorable quotes that people will be quoting for many days to come.

While I enjoyed most of the movie and I can appreciate it for what it is, a stupid fun comedy, I must admit some jokes were used too much. The fart jokes came by the truckload in this film and while a few were amusing, most of them weren't. Also the amount of gay sexual undertones in this movie was too much as well. When the film first tried a gay joke, it kind of worked but as the movie continued on, the gay jokes just got worse and worse and weren't funny.

Rob Schneider for once plays a different role here. While I have always been a fan of his cheesy and overly stupid roles, I am glad to see him play a different role. He played a more mature character and for once in his career, this role didn't involve him becoming something like a woman, an animal, or a male gigolo. I enjoy Schneider much more than I probably should admit and I am glad to see he expanded his role choice for once. David Spade is really starting to grow on me. After seeing him alongside Chris Farley in "Tommy Boy" and "Black Sheep" I thought he was someone who I was going to enjoy for many years to come. But then "8 Heads in a Duffle Bag" and "Lost & Found" came out and I lost interest in him. It wasn't until 2003 when I began to like David Spade again after seeing "Dickie Roberts" and ever since then he has been growing on me again. I think it's is whole sarcastic sense of humor that I enjoy. Like his quote from the movie," I didn't know athlete had three syllables, that's AAMAAZZINNG". I kind of feel bad for Jon Heder because I like the guy but after "Napoleon Dynamite" I feel he will be playing the same role for the rest of his life. He plays a more talkative "Napoleon" in "Benchwarmers" and is a lot of fun. He is still amusing and most of his jokes work but I just wonder after a few more films will audiences be tired of him?

"The Benchwarmers" is a must for those who are fans of Schneider, Spade, or Heder. If you hate these guys or hate stupid immature comedies then avoid this movie. There is a specific target audience of adults this is geared towards and is a film that you will either enjoy (notice I didn't say love) or hate with a passion. Also it's a pretty safe film that many kids between the ages of 7 and 18 will probably enjoy more than anyone else. Every once in a while, I enjoy seeing a stupid childish comedy like "Benchwarmers" but I know what to expect when I go into it and I got just what I expected. Movies like this aren't screened to critics because studios know they will not like it. They are not the target audience. But for myself, I can still like art films and enjoy silly comedies that have no substance. If critics loosened up a bit or maybe had kids and took them to see some of these movies with them, they would realize how fun some of these films really are. "The Benchwarmers" is a fun hour and a half for those who can appreciate this film for what it is.

MovieManMenzel's final rating for "The Benchwarmers" is a 7/10.