Movie Review: The Benchwarmers (2006)

The Benchwarmers was directed by Dennis Dugan (who directed Happy Gilmore) and stars Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Jon Heder. The movie is about these three guys who organize a baseball team for kids who are bullied and or not athletically talented. I saw this movie on Netflix and to be entirely honest, I liked it. This isn't a good movie at all and that's where critics largely dissed this film. I found it to be hilarious and I thought elements of the movie worked really well as a comedy. Is it actually a good film? No. I wouldn't even really consider this to be a 'film' as the acting, directing, and story telling are pretty much completely disregarded during this eighty-five minute runtime. One of the flaws in this film that actually did bother me was the editing. The fast-paced sequences are really choppy and that includes basic dialogue between characters. It's not consistent, but there are a few times (the first video store scene) where I found the editing to be overly distracting and quite the eye sore. There's also Jon Heder who is literally playing Napoleon Dynamite for the second time. In general I found this movie to be quite funny. It is a purposefully bad baseball flick and I loved it for what it was. Yes, the ending message doesn't make any sense. Advocating for bullying and yet still laughing at the "outcasts" of the movie doesn't go hand in hand. And yes, there are a lot of moments in The Benchwarmers that feel as though they've been borrowed from other films. That said, I cannot lie to readers and tell people I hated this film. I'm well aware of the eleven percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but I think this one gets judged a bit too unfairly. Overall, The Benchwarmers works solely on being a hilarious baseball film with some great (yet so bad) characters and a really well used soundtrack. Two stars= B