“The Benchwarmers” (Columbia Pictures)
Fouls Out With Gross Humor
Rob Schneider, Jon Heder and David Spade star in the new comedy “The Benchwarmers.” This film hits a home run with its message but fouls out in the humor department. It is too gross for the audience for which it is aimed. It is also an equal opportunity offender as it takes aim at nerds, jocks, gays, dwarfs, the aged and anyone else in view.
Gus (Schneider), Richie (Spade) and Clark (Heder) are best friends. Gus has a lawn cleaning business while Richie works at a video store and Clark is a paperboy. Why they are friends is never revealed, but they are. So when Gus decides to form a ball team to take on the bullying jocks of the world, they are in. These three challenge little league teams of athletic kids to play, and prove themselves to be winners. Well Gus does, since he is the pitcher who strikes everyone out and also home runs every time at bat.
Eventually a former nerd turned millionaire named Mel (Jon Lovitz) offers them a chance to play in a championship. The winner will get a new stadium built just for them. Mel even hires his friend Reggie Jackson to coach them. It seems Reggie was a nerd as a child too.
The theme of the film is that kids should all play sports just for the fun of playing, and this is a good thing. Still the humor used in delivering this message may not be the type parents want their kids to emulate. A lot of the actions by Spade and Heder are just plain gross, and even Reggie sets a bad example by using his bat to bust up mailboxes.
Schneider is his most likeable in this film. This is not Deuce Bigalow plays ball, rather he is a sweet unassuming guy who is married and loves his wife (Molly Sims). A revelation about his childhood that occurs in the last third of the movie makes no sense, and is obviously thrown in just as a plot device.
Spade is his regular self in this film – at least the same screen persona he has created for all his other movies. He is witty, timid and brash. In this film he is in love with the salad girl (Errin Bartlett) at his local pizza place. Their romance is a nice little plus for the movie.
Heder is the star of “Napoleon Dynamite” and should have moved on from that limited character by now. He has a lot of natural talent but it is being squelched by his being forced to be the big stupid guy all the time. Here’s hoping he gets a role in the future that lets him move on to something else.
Lovitz has only a few scenes in the movie but he makes each one pay off. The man is hilarious even when he is standing still and staying quiet.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and gross humor.
“The Benchwarmers” has some funny moments but too many of those are crude and/or cruel. As the rating says, you might want to keep the kids under thirteen away from this one.
I scored “The Benchwarmers” an athletic 5 out of 10.
