The Bad News Bears (2005)

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

Release Date: June 10th, 2005 (wide)

Cast: Billy Bob Thornton (Coach Morris Buttermaker), Greg Kinnear (Bullock), Marcia Gay Harden (Liz Whitewood), Timmy Deters (Tanner), Seth Adkins (Mean Yankee), Ridge Canipe (Toby Whitewood), Brandon Craggs (Engelberg), Jeff Davies (Kelly), Karen Gordon (Mrs Grey), Carter Jenkins (Joey), Tyler Patrick Jones (Timothy Lupus), Sammi Kraft (Amanda Wurlitzer), Jeffrey Tedmori (Garo), Emmanuel Estrada (Miguel), Kenneth "KC" Harris (Ahmad), Aman Johal (Prem)

Director: Richard Linklater (Before Sunset, School of Rock)

Screenwriter: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa (Bad Santa)

Premise: Morris Buttermaker, a former pro baseball player, was ejected from the game for attacking an umpire and now works as an exterminator. More interested in boozing and broads than baseball, Buttermaker is lured back into the game by Liz Whitewood, an attorney whose class action suit has forced the Little League to accept all players, regardless of their abilities. As the new coach of the Bears, the most losing team in Little League history, Buttermaker has his work cut out for him. Initially, he's only in it for the paycheck, but he and his inept players have a transformative effect on one another that is wholly unexpected, and completely remarkable.

Based Upon: A remake of 1976's The Bad News Bears, starring Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal.

[Finn]

It looks like another pointless remake but maybe Linklater will take it to a better level.

[matt35mm]

I always believe in Linky.  He's proved that he can work with kids in School of Rock, which was one of the best group-of-kids performances in a movie EVER.

And the writers of Bad Santa proved that they can write for Billy Bob with sexy results.

[modage]

It looks like another pointless remake but maybe Linklater will take it to a better level.

yes, one can hope it will turn out good like school of rock but the trailer blows ass.

[soixante]

Linklater made Dazed and Confused, one of my all time favorite films.  I'll see anything he does.  Yes, even Bad News Bears.

If this film is a hit, they can do remakes of the sequels -- Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and Bad News Bears Go To Japan.  In Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, Walter Matthau was replaced by William Devane.  Who will replace Billy Bob in the sequel?

[cine]

In Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, Walter Matthau was replaced by William Devane.  Who will replace Billy Bob in the sequel?

William Devane.

[analogzombie]

please lord, stop remaking everything!

besides no one, and i mean no one can possibly match the raw animal magnetism that was the original Kelly!

[Jeremy Blackman]

Why does Linklater still make movies like this?

[soixante]

I'd love to see Jean-Luc Godard do a remake of a 70's sports film.

[Pubrick]

Why does Linklater still make movies like this?

linklater is the soderbergh of our times

[Gold Trumpet]

The story here isn't Linklater. He can be director-for-hire just as easily as not.

I'm wondering what the rating will be. If R, it has a chance to be good. If PG-13, it will end up being bad. The screenwriters did Bad Santa and  now again they have a film with Billy Bob and again a story about a womanizing drunk brought to do good. I loved Bad Santa. It had some of the best laughs of any recent comedy. I think this film is being made off that success. If does go to PG-13, its obviously a reward film for the studios who found an unlikely hit in Bad Santa. If it is R, it could be a film that is trying to be funnier than Bad Santa. I have a bad feeling this will be a reward film though.

[modage]

i'm guessing PG-13 or possibly PG.  theres no way this will be R.

[Ghostboy]

This was a pretty nice movie. It's very laid back...I liked the way it just sort of started, with no setup or exposition, but then it just started to feel sorta lazy on both Linklater and Thornton's part...but then the approach really starts working for it and by the end I was mildly loving it. It's not as good as either School Of Rock or Bad Santa (its most obvious precedents), but its cute and fun, and not in a sacharine way. I haven't seen the original, by the way, so I have nothing to compare it to.

Regarding why Linklater makes movies like this: he said in a recent interview in EW that he doesn't really consider himself any particular sort of filmmaker, and that he'll try anything. He said he wants to do an action film.

[Stefen]

One of the reasons I come to this site is to read Ghostboys reviews. Which we don't get much of. I read most of them at aicn. You're the man, man.

Anyways, this movie looks fun as shit. I was looking at it as a money maker for Linklater to find scrilla for more ambitious projects, but the previews just look so much fun. Linklater may be the new Steve Bergh but he's the new Steven Berg in the sense that he can direct Kids. Hard feat since they are spoiled brat child actors. Linklater is my new fave. Sorry. He just makes fun movies. Which is more important to me than some foreign it's awful but people think it's good movies, ya know?

[soixante]

Just saw it on opening day.  It was a lot better than I expected.  Linklater and Billy Bob work together perfectly.  Probably my favorite Linklater film since Dazed and Confused.