Review

With experience having played both a coach in Friday Night Lights and a drunk with a general insensitivity toward children in Bad Santa, Billy Bob Thornton fills the shoes of Walter Matthau perfectly in this noticeably faithful remake of the highly regarded 1976 hit The Bad News Bears. Richard Linklater, most likely cashing in after the success of School of Rock in order to fund smaller experimental projects (one can hope), directs humorous performances from Thornton, Marcia Gay Harden, Greg Kinnear and a group of talented young new-comers.

Due to the fact that the 1976 film spawned two unforgivably unimpressive sequels (The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan), a wealth of rip-offs (Ladybugs, Hardball, etc…) and a very short-lived television series staring Jack Warden and Corey Feldman, the plot treads on extremely well-worn territory. Thornton plays Morris Buttermaker, a former professional baseball player who, while working as a pest remover, is recruited to coach a little league team consisting of misfits and outcasts, none of whom are particularly talented ball players. Though initially disinterested, the team’s incompetence inspires Buttermaker to put forth more effort as a coach and role model in very untraditional and politically incorrect ways.

Though the plot lacks originality, Richard Linklater has crafted his version of Bad News Bears in a way that sets it apart from what many have come to expect from contemporary remakes. This version honors the original, never attempting to surpass it, while maintaining its own cool stride and taking the same exceedingly entertaining shots at classic American ideology. Linklater and screenwriters Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (the same writing team behind Bad Santa) seem to have a much greater understanding of the film’s cynical appeal than those responsible for the spin-offs. Though not without its flaws, Bad News Bears will most likely provide a welcomed breath of fresh air for fans of the original and those who find themselves tired of over-protectiveness and societal taboos.

 -- Robert O'Neill