There is finally a film for everyone who has ever made their home on a baseball diamond’s bench. Unfortunately, the film strikes out.
“The Benchwarmers” is the newest project from “Happy Gilmore” director, Dennis Dugan. The film stars Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Jon Heder (“Napoleon Dynamite”) and includes appearances by a few other SNL alums, like Tim Meadows. The film was produced by Happy Madison Productions (Adam Sandler’s company) and was co-written by stand-up comedian Nick Swardson.
With such comedic talent involved in the film’s production, one would expect an instant classic, but “The Benchwarmers” comes up short.
Schneider plays Gus, a married landscaper and all-around baseball fan. After witnessing a team of children bullying another child on a nearby baseball field, Gus saves the innocent victim while simultaneously rejuvenating his love of the sport. Later that day, he gathers his two inept, loser friends, Clark and Richie (Heder and Spade, respectively), to play catch, but the men run into the same young baseball team from earlier that day. Refusing to give up the diamond, Gus challenges the team to a game in order to decide who gets the baseball field. Here, we discover that Clark and Richie are not only losers, but they are also terrible baseball players and former benchwarmers. During this slapstick match, the three friends learn that the bullied child is actually the son of a geeky billionaire, Mel (Jon Lovitz), who also sat the bench as a child.
After seeing the effect Gus’ game has on his son, Mel invites the men back to his mansion full of Stars Wars memorabilia and proposes that the three guys play in a tournament against all the teams full of bullies – the appropriately named “Mel’s Tournament of Little Baseballers and Three Older Guys.” Mel offers the grand prize of a brand new stadium and even recruits Reggie Jackson for some unorthodox training.
Amongst a barrage of jokes about nipple twisting, farts, boogers and a couple of crotch shots, the trio, now officially known as The Benchwarmers, take on young baseball teams and gather a following from geeks and nerds around the city.
Dennis Dugan, who has directed modern-day comedy classics like “Big Daddy” and “Saving Silverman,” seems to have missed something with this comedy. The cast is overflowing with actors who have displayed great comedic timing in the past, yet in “The Benchwarmers” the majority of the humor revolves around physical gags. The film moves quickly, delivering loads of small jokes but never taking time out for any big laughs.
Jon Heder seems fated to be cast as Napoleon Dynamite for the rest of his career. He delivers a very Napoleon-like “dang it” within the first few minutes of the film.
Spade’s only humorous moments are as the team’s catcher, who can’t seem to actually catch a pitch.
A strange juxtaposition, resembling that of last year’s remake of “Bad News Bears,” emerges as the children of the film attempt to make their way into the toilet humor.
Comedian and co-writer Nick Swardson wrote the funniest role for himself as Howie, Richie’s agoraphobic roommate who is terrified of the sun.
Even though the film is a Happy Madison Production, Adam Sandler never makes an appearance which might have been a wise move on his part.
“The Benchwarmers” is obviously aimed at the younger crowd, but even junior high students hunger for humor that transcends boogers.
