Bad News Bears

Directors: Richard Linklater
Screenplay: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa (based on the 1976 screenplay by Bill Lancaster)
Stars: Billy Bob Thornton (Morris Buttermaker), Greg Kinnear (Roy Bullock), Marcia Gay Harden (Liz Whitewood), Sammi Kane Kraft (Amanda Whurlitzer), Ridge Canipe (Toby Whitewood), Brandon Craggs (Mike Engelberg), Jeffrey Davies (Kelly Leak), Timmy Deters (Tanner Boyle), Carlos Estrada (Miguel Agilar), Emmanuel Estrada (Jose Agilar), Troy Gentile (Matthew Hooper), Kenneth 'K.C.' Harris (Ahmad Abdul Rahim), Aman Johal (Prem Lahiri), Tyler Patrick Jones (Timothy Lupus)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Year of Release: 2005
Country: U.S.
Bad News Bears DVD
Bad News BearsThose familiar with The Bad News Bears, the 1976 anti-sentimental classic about a shoddy team of rough-housing, vulgar Little Leaguers, won’t find much difference in the basic narrative or the thematic underpinnings of Richard Linklater’s sans-article remake. There are small changes, to be sure -- reluctant drunk of a coach Morris Buttermaker’s occupation has been changed from pool cleaner to rat exterminator, a kid in a motorized wheelchair has been added to the team, and the Bears’ unlikely sponsor has been altered from a bail bond company to something a little dirtier.

However, the vast majority of Bad News Bears is extremely faithful, right down to some of the camera angles and the amusing use of music from Georges Bizet’s Carmen. More importantly, it still plays as a vicious undercutting of the twin Americana myths of sweet, rosy-cheeked suburban youth and the beneficial nature of a win-at-all costs mentality, especially as embodied in youth sports leagues. Still, for everything that’s good about it, we’re left with a nagging sense of “What’s the point?” The remake doesn’t improve on the original, nor does it change it significantly enough to make it seem worth the effort.

However, it does give Billy Bob Thornton another opportunity to do what he arguably does best, playing an obnoxious drain on society as he did in Bad Santa (2003), whose scribes Glenn Ficarra and John Requa penned the remake’s script. Thornton takes the reins from Walter Matthau, who played coach-for-hire Morris Buttermaker in the original as a tired, hangdog loser. Thornton’s Buttermaker is still a loser, but a more aggressive and energetic one who seems to almost enjoy wallowing in his depravity. Where Matthau was a typically shapeless sloth, Thornton is all sharp angles and tattoos. He has a sexual edge that Matthau didn’t, which is humorously reflected in the inappropriate metaphors he uses to explain concepts like winning and losing to his players (“It’s like dating a German chick …”).

The Bears themselves are the same motley group of underachievers and misfits, and many of the actors have been cast largely because they look like the kids from the original movie. Despite Linklater’s success working with child actors in School of Rock (2003), he never quite seems to get a handle on his young cast here. The recognizable and therefore amusing petty preteen bitterness of the original has given way to something slightly tackier here, although it may be simply a result of these kids not being as good as their 1976 counterparts. They always seem to be trying a little too hard, when their badness should come off as a natural extension of their misfit status. It’s what made the kids in the original sympathetic even when they were cussing and fighting and generally acting like animals.

Linklater and his writers still want Bad News Bears to play as a sharp indictment of the American win-at-all-costs mentality and the way in which adults manipulate children to their own self-serving ends, and to a certain extent they’re successful. Buttermaker himself becomes a victim of this mindset, but it’s epitomized mainly in the opposing coach, Roy Bullock (Greg Kinnear). However, it is here that the new movie differs sharply from the original and to its detriment. Kinnear’s overly stylish prig of a suburban coach-dad is infinitely less sinister than Vic Morrow’s military-like sadist in the original. Kinnear is made out to be a pompous buffoon who doesn’t realize just how overinflated he is, and when a crucial moment comes late in the movie that requires him to act violently toward his own son, it doesn’t carry any weight. The awkward silence that follows is supposed to indict the cruel coach’s behavior, but it feels more like an indictment of the movie itself.

Bad News Bears Widescreen Special Collector’s Edition DVD

Aspect Ratio1.85:1
AnamorphicYes
Audio
  • English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  • French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  • SubtitlesEnglish, Spanish
    Supplements
  • Audio commentary by director Richard Linklater and cowriters Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
  • “At Bat With the Bears” feaurette
  • “Writing the Bad News Bears” feaurette
  • “Scouting for the Big Leagues” feaurette
  • “Spring Training” featurette
  • Deleted scenes
  • Outtakes
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Video baseball cards
  • DistributorParamount Home Video
    SRP$29.95
    Release DateDecember 13, 2005

    VIDEO
    The anamorphic widescreen transfer is just about perfect. The image is clean, well-detailed, and natural-looking. Colors are bright and crisp, and flesh tones look natural.

    AUDIO
    The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack is used effectively, with decent use of the surrounds for environmental noise (for example, the crowds at the game) and to spread out the music cues. Dialogue is nicely maintained in the front soundstage is always clear.

    SUPPLEMENTS
    The screen-specific audio commentary by director Richard Linklater and cowriters Glenn Ficarra and John Requa is a laid-back, easygoing, but informative affair. Having all three of them recorded together was a good idea because they bounce comments off each other, particularly near the beginning when Ficarra and Requa keep ribbing Linklater about scenes that turned out different in the film than they wrote them (maybe this is why so few commentaries include the director and writers together). You also find out hilarious gems like a pair of alternate titles for the Bears’ sponsoring gentleman’s club: “Happing Endings” and “Dishonorable Discharge.”

    The three included featurettes are fairly standard fare. The 12-minute “Meet the Bears” is a general behind-the-scenes featurette about conceptualizing and making the film. It is predominated by interviews with Linklater and Billy Bob Thornton, although there are also interviews with several of the producers, Marcia Gay Harden, and Greg Kinnear. The 10-minute “Writing the Bad News Bears is essentially an extended interview with screenwriters Glenn Ficarra and John Requa about updating Bill Lancaster’s 1976 script. “Scouting for the Big Leagues” is a about casting and working with the child actors (including some clips of their screen tests), and “Spring Training” is a brief look at the technical advisors who coached the kids. Also included on the disc are six deleted scenes (in nonanamorphic widescreen with optional filmmaker commentary), as well as about a minute and a half of outtakes (which also, oddly enough, includes optional commentary). The “Video Baseball Cards” are essentially cast biographies cleverly organized like baseball cards. Not much information there, but an amusing idea. Last on the disc is the original theatrical trailer, which is presented in nonanamorphic widescreen.

    Copyright ©2005 James Kendrick

    Thoughts? E-mail James Kendrick

    All images copyright © Paramount Home Video

    Overall Rating: (2.5)




    James Kendrick

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