-
Jul 22, 2005 4:45 pm US/Central
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
The Bad News Bears
Is This Remake A Home Run Or A Strikeout?
(CBS)
Bad Santa goes to Little League in "The Bad News Bears," with Billy Bob Thornton taking on the role of the beer-swilling coach made famous by Walter Matthau. Fortunately, this is a much better remake of a Seventies sports film than "The Longest Yard."
But I was surprised that director Richard Linklater was so faithful to the original, given the creative spark he's shown on "Rock School" and "Dazed and Confused." The win-crazed opposing coach, the girl pitcher, the little tough guy, the motorycle-riding rebel star--all these ingredients are in both films. But Billy Bob seems even more likely than Matthau to have a body stored in the trunk.
Greg Kinnear is getting into a bit of career rut. Once again he's playing the smarmy foil. This uptight jerk is the classic parent-coach who cares only about re-living his own lost youth through is pathetic
obsession with winning.
This movie spends a lot of time on the baseball field. The kids play only about once a week, but they seem to practice every afternoon. In fact Thornton's coach Buttermaker practically adopts these kids, whose
parents are almost invisible.
The original "The Bad News Bears" was more of a movie about kids than a kids' movie, and that's even more so with this PG-13 version. There's a lot of cussing and a ton of politically incorrect humor. For older kids
and parents, though, See It.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)