Bad News Bears

Paramount Pictures presents

Starring: Billy Bob Thorton, Greg Kinnear, Marcia Gay Harden

Directed by: Richard Linklater

Rating: ***1/2

Plot: In yet another remake we have Bad Santa... Um I mean Morris Buttermaker (Thorton) who is a beer drinking foul mouthed man tries to coach a little league team which is filled with misfits, kids who can't speak English and one in a wheel chair. They take on Roy Bullock's (Greg Kinnear) little league team called the Yankees who are last years champs filled with actually base ball players and etc.  I'm not even sure what happens ensues.

Acting: Ever since Bad Santa I have official announced I love Billy Bob Thorton a guy I knew only as a decent actor who gave blood to Angelina Jolie. After Monsters Ball he showed he still had the drama acting in him. But Bad Santa was the funniest movie I've ever seen and still is. This movie is yet another remake with only one concept: Bad Santa coaching little league. But you know what? It works. I was laughing through out this entire movie. The one reason was Billy Bob Thorton he just eats up every scene he is in. With lines like "You guys swing like Hellen Keller at a pinata party". If you're not laughing at that your simply an idiot. What also might have helped was the theater I was in was filled with kids, why is that hilarious? Well the word shit is said life fifty times, not only by Billy Bob but mainly by the kids on the team. These kids are so hilarious and over the top it was actually great they also helped fill in the cast perfectly when it came to the laugh factor. Greg Kinnear is in this as the typical ass hole dad character and is simply wasted I think. That doesn't matter Billy Bob Thorton almost made this movie better than the original. Focus on the use of the word almost.

Directing/Writing: Yes Billy Bob and the kids are funny but the movie itself is a mess. That fact might not really depress that many people because who would want a master piece from a movie like this? Still many moments in the movie seemed rushed and badly maintained which made me feel as if this movie was like Billy Bob one liners and the rest was mailed in by the production staff. The last half of this movie is almost all on a base ball field and many side plot lines, Buttermaker's love life etc. Are just dropped at the end of the film. I have to comment on the cool ideas the movie put in place. The kids are really nasty and rude which is actually quite realistic and how they band together and deal with winning a losing is so very real in a way. The movie also has that problem of having too many kid characters who have their own little side stories that must be dealt with. So when the movie ends you're expecting a big punch or huge laughs that really never happen. So its like a half movie, half sports movie, half balls to the walls comedy. This leads the film to end with a lack luster feeling which was disapointing.

Overall: Don't get me wrong this movie is filled with laughs and is not a kids movie. Billy Bob owns this movie and I do prey there is an R rated dvd version of the film because I will buy it. Otherwise the original is just as good and actually better paced than this film but whatever it doesn't really matter in the end I guess. It made me laugh and maybe that is all that matters.