Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
The Benchwarmers (2006)
Director: Dennis Dugan
Movie review
From Time Out London
More painful man-child pratfalls courtesy of producer Adam Sandler in this anti-jock sports frolic whose major plus-point is its merciful brevity. Landscape gardener Rob Schneider was once a shy kid who didn’t get the chance to show his prowess on the baseball diamond, so he takes his chance now by joining social inadequate David Spade and mummy’s boy Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite himself) to confront the slick Little Leaguers who’ve bullied the area’s junior nerds off the park. Their pro-geek stand captures the attention of eccentric billionaire Jon Lovitz and soon there’s a tournament arranged, with a brand-new stadium the glittering prize. It’s quite literally men against boys but, bizarrely, we’re meant to be rooting for the grown-ups giving the sporty kids an ass-kicking – at least when the movie’s not wallowing in fart jokes or product placement, which is much of the time. And just when the baseball slapstick starts wearing thin, a final-reel gush of truly cynical sentiment on behalf of the physically challenged sends the ordeal-factor off the scale.Author: Trevor Johnston
Time Out London Issue 1867: May 31-June 7 2006
Cast & crew
Director: Dennis Dugan
Cast: Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jon Heder, Jon Lovitz, Craig Kilborn, Molly Sims, Tim Meadows, Nick Swardson full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 80 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now