Opening

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—— The Hangover Part III May 23
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Bad News Bears (2005)

tomatometer

46

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Reviews Counted: 143
Fresh: 66 | Rotten: 77

This too-faithful remake aims low for laughs, turning off the easily offendable; despite another lovably irascible contribution by Thornton, it lacks the ensemble strength and originality of the 1976 version.

54

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 17

This too-faithful remake aims low for laughs, turning off the easily offendable; despite another lovably irascible contribution by Thornton, it lacks the ensemble strength and originality of the 1976 version.

audience

53

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 75,820

My Rating

Movie Info

A washed-up ballplayer is put in charge of a pack of kids scarcely more mature than himself in this remake of the 1976 comedy hit. Morris Buttermaker (Billy Bob Thornton) is a former major league baseball player whose career and life has hit the skids thanks to his overwhelming fondness for booze and women. Needing a break, his lawyer (Marcia Gay Harden) arranges for Buttermaker to take on coaching responsibilities for the Bears, a Little League baseball team comprised of a handful of hapless

PG-13,

Comedy

Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Dec 13, 2005

$32.8M

Paramount Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (152) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (68) | Rotten (79) | DVD (18)

There are many lingerings over communal feelings other directors might pass through more quickly to get to the next giggle or guffaw more efficiently.

August 4, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Observer
New York Observer
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Billy Bob Thornton is the best weapon against cute that a kid baseball movie ever had.

July 28, 2005
Rolling Stone
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More irksome is the ordained focus on plot undulation and simplistic motivation, as if nobody remembered that the first film was a social satire.

July 26, 2005 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment (1)
Village Voice
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At least Linklater isn't just picking the bones of his forebears; he honors them as they deserve.

July 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Salon.com
Salon.com
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Fortunately, in the process of pursuing a box office winner, Linklater has crafted an entertaining motion picture.

July 23, 2005 Full Review Source: ReelViews
ReelViews
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But you don't watch Bad News Bears for the action out on the diamond. You hang out with that hangdog coach so you can catch every slurry, sour-mouthed retort coming out of his mouth. Now that's color commentary.

July 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Thornton is the real reason to watch. He plays most of his scenes with an understated unrepentant scumbaggishsness that makes him easy to simultaneously hate and like. It's a tricky balance to pull off, but he manages it well.

January 7, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net
ComingSoon.net

Linklater's "Bad News Bears" doesn't approach the giddy comedy of Ritchie's original, but it does inspire an attentive contemplation on the similarities and differences between adults and children in approaching the game of life.

June 21, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
ColeSmithey.com

Scatological remake of a not-so-innocent movie.

July 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

July 23, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
eFilmCritic.com

Bad News Bears is packed with laughs, but almost all of them are cheaply won

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

I'm not sure why filmmakers think we want to see kids put into dark situations and berated with profanities by Billy Bob Thornton.

September 8, 2006 | Comment (1)
Christianity Today

...what should've been a fun and breezy comedy is ultimately transformed into an incredibly tedious ordeal...

July 15, 2006 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
Reel Film Reviews

Ainda que esquemático, gera boas risadas graças à dinâmica entre Thornton e o elenco infantil.

December 25, 2005
Cinema em Cena

A potty-mouthed reconfiguration of a sports classic for our Bad Santa age. Funny stuff.

December 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Too tame to attract now middle-aged viewers who remember the original and want to see Billy Bob Thornton play it like Bad Santa, it's still a little too raunchy to secure parental approval for pre-highschoolers.

December 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile
Urban Cinefile

Audience Reviews for Bad News Bears

I've not seen the original films so I can't comment on Richard Linklater's Bad news Bears in terms of remake but for what it's worth, I thought that for a cliched story, it was pretty cliche light. There is an element of 'seen it all before' but I think it was handled pretty well and even though this is nothing special It did keep me entertained throughout. I find Richard Linklater pretty dependable in this area.
March 20, 2013
SirPant

Super Reviewer

This remake is better than I expected, and, even though it's Linklater, I really wasn't expecting much.

Morris Buttermaker is a washed-up boozy exterminator who once had a career as a minor league baseball player (with a very, very short stint in the majors) who agrees to coach a lousy team of misfits, if only because he needs the paycheck.

Yeah, it's the typical underdog sort of scenario, but with a twist. It's also pretty faithful to the original, even recreating some scenes almost note for note. It does enough to stand out on its own with some of the changes it makes, and that's good. Essentially it's a filtered version of Bad Santa to a degree, but even then it's surprisingly watchable and enjoyable.

Thornton delivers the sort of performance you'd expect given the character, and I liked him, even though he's not supposed to be likable. The team is a motley crew of typical misfits, but they deliver decent performances that rise above the ranks, making characters that stand out from the norm of this sort of scenario. Of the kids, my favorites include the late Sammi Kane Kraft as ace pitcher (and token girl) Amanda, Timmy Deters as the pint-sized foul mouth Tanner, and Troy Gentile as the wise-cracking wheelchair bound Matt Hooper. As for the other adults, Greg Kinnear is okay as the rival coach who personifies the parent that overvalues winning, and Marcia Gay Harden is giving the thankless role of the ACLU-minded hardworking mom who thinks all kids should be given a chance at everything, just because.

The film has some of the expected sports movie cliches, but ultimately avoids being a paint-by-numbers affair. I also liked that, while it is sort of aimed at a younger audience, it doesn't pull punches, and easily earns the PG-13 rating, with some of these kids being hilariously edgy right along with Thornton. One of my favorite examples of this is when he offers the kids non-alcoholic beer as a celebration, and Tanner comments, "Non-alcoholic beer? What's the damn point?" That's pretty funny.

Better than it has any right to be, this is a pretty decent film. Yeah, it has the smell of familiarity all over it, but Linklater is a smart filmmaker, and while he clearly has reverence for the original, he smartly does enough to set his remake apart and make it relatable to contemporary audiences. Give it a go.
April 23, 2012
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

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