Directed by Dennis Dugan, the director of Adam Sandler hits “Big Daddy” and “Happy Gilmore,” and produced by Adam Sandler himself, “Benchwarmers” opened to high expectations.
However, the movie was a reversion back to Adam Sandler’s more sophomoric days and was formulaic and lackluster.
Clark, played by Jon Heder, and Richie, played by David Spade, are two nerds who haven’t grown out of their socially awkward phase.
Joined by Gus, played by Rob Schneider, the three open the movie by standing up for a kid who is getting bullied on the local baseball field.
After saving the kid from “beef stew,” the three play the bully’s team for the field.
Surprisingly, they win because of Gus’ hidden home-run talent.
The kid they rescued turns out to be the son of billionaire nerd Mel, played by Jon Lovitz.
Also bullied as a child, Mel decides to give Clark, Gus and Richie a chance to experience what they never could: being part of a baseball team.
He does this by arranging a baseball tournament against little league teams.
The lucrative prize he presents in order to entice the little league coaches to pit their teams against the three stooges is a brand new stadium.
The tournament begins and a series of wins has given “Benchwarmers” not only celebrity status, but a fan club made up of thousands of nerds.
Broadcasted over the Internet and narrated by two unlikely sportscasters, the games attract huge amounts of viewers.
The other coaches begin to play dirty in order to give their teams a leg up, even paying off a referee to let a drunken Dominican Republic baseball star play in a game.
The one redeeming aspect of the movie is the shock that comes in the second half.
Gus is revealed to have been a childhood bully himself, and not actually a victim of ridicule.
He makes it up to his fans by apologizing to the dwarf he bullied into a mental institution, and then announces that his fans will play for the Benchwarmers in the final game.
Jon Heder, perhaps better known as “Napoleon Dynamite,” was nothing new in his role as Clark.
Rob Schneider, whose character is the most adult of the trio, is somehow married to a hot woman who wants to get pregnant (played by supermodel-turned-actress Molly Sims).
David Spade plays his typical role as the sarcastic wimp.
Not every scene deserves a bad review. The movie is slightly touching when Gus, Richie and Clark announce that instead of playing in their last game, they will let their geeky fans play.
Also, slightly, with emphasis on “slight,” more adult humor shows up in the scenes where Mel tries to improve his team’s skills through games such as “ding-dong ditching” and “mailbox baseball.”
Rated PG-13 for crude and suggestive humor, and for language, this movie is not only unsuitable for children; it is unsuitable for anyone over the age of 15.
Unless tasteless bathroom humor is what you are looking for, the movie is not highly recommended. The characters are in their typical roles with some rather questionable acts.
