The Benchwarmers
The Benchwarmers | |
---|---|
Directed by | Dennis Dugan |
Written by | Allen Covert Nick Swardson |
Produced by | Adam Sandler Jack Giarraputo |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Thomas Ackerman |
Edited by | Peck Prior Sandy Solowitz |
Music by | Waddy Wachtel |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $33 million[1] |
Box office | $65 million[1] |
The Benchwarmers is a 2006 American sports-comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jon Heder, Jon Lovitz, Craig Kilborn, Molly Sims, and Tim Meadows. It is produced by Revolution Studios and Happy Madison Productions and is distributed by Columbia Pictures. It has developed a cult following over the years since its release, especially amongst baseball fans.[citation needed]
A direct-to-video sequel, Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls was released on July 2018.
Plot
Gus Matthews (Rob Schneider), Richie Goodman (David Spade), and Clark Reedy (Jon Heder) are adult "nerds" who spent their childhoods longing to play baseball, but never got the chance.
When a nerdy, unathletic boy named Nelson Carmichael (Max Pardo) and his friends are bullied and kicked off a baseball diamond by a local little league team, Gus and Clark chase the bullies away. When Gus and Clark go with Richie to the field, the bullies return and demand that they leave. Gus challenges the bullies to play them for the field. They win the game due to Gus's surprising aptitude. A man named Brad (Sean Salisbury), one of Clark and Richie's childhood bullies, challenges them to another game, but the three friends win again.
Nelson's billionaire father Mel (Jon Lovitz) tells the trio about his plan to hold a round-robin with all the little league teams in the state, plus their team. The winners will be given access to a new multimillion-dollar baseball park. The three name themselves the Benchwarmers and join the tournament. The Benchwarmers win every single game, with Clark and Richie's abilities gradually improving, and the team becomes popular among many nerds, children with poor athletic abilities, and the general public. The little league teams start meeting to think of plans to defeat the Benchwarmers.
At the semi-final game, the competing team's coach Wayne enters a 30-year-old Dominican professional baseball player named Carlos (Amaury Nolasco) into the league claiming him to be 12 years old. The Benchwarmers eventually defeat Carlos by getting him too drunk to pitch properly.
After multiple unsuccessful attempts to derail the trio, the Benchwarmers' adversaries finally find a weakness that they can exploit. They find evidence that Gus was a bully himself as a child, known for using name calling over physical force and had bullied one boy named Marcus (Joe Gnoffo) so intensely that he had to be sent to a mental institution. Seizing this opportunity, the bully teams expose Gus' secret to the public, shaming Gus into resigning from the team. However, Gus sincerely apologizes to Marcus just before the final game and in return, Marcus forgives Gus in front of everyone at the beginning of the final game. Gus re-joins the team, announcing that Marcus is the Benchwarmers' new third-base coach.
In the final game, Gus, Clark and Richie let a team consisting of Nelson and other non-athletic children play, to give them a chance to compete. The final is played against a team with their coach Jerry (Craig Kilborn) who is the leader of all the bullies on the little league teams and was Richie and Clark's childhood bully. In the final inning, the Benchwarmers are losing, but Jerry's team sees that the Benchwarmers are having fun playing the game anyway. Seeing how heartless and uncaring Jerry is and realizing the true spirit of the game, they decide to let Nelson score a run, saying that Jerry is "the loser". The Benchwarmers storm the field, celebrating the fact that they were not shut out.
The entire Benchwarmers team, along with the kids from Jerry's team, Marcus, and even Carlos and Wayne, celebrate at Pizza Hut. Richie and Clark get girlfriends and Gus announces that he is going to become a father.
Cast
- Rob Schneider as Gus Matthews, an adult nerd and reformed childhood bully who is good at baseball.
- David Spade as Richie Goodman, an adult nerd who is one of Gus's friends.
- Jon Heder as Clark Reedy, an adult nerd who is one of Gus's friends.
- Jon Lovitz as Mel Carmichael, a billionaire who funds the Benchwarmers.
- Craig Kilborn as Jerry McDowell, a mean-spirited little league coach.
- Molly Sims as Liz Matthews, the wife of Gus.
- Tim Meadows as Wayne, a little league coach.
- Nick Swardson as Howie Goodman, Richie's agoraphobic and heliophobic brother.
- Max Prado as Nelson Carmichael, the son of Mel.
- Erinn Bartlett as Sarah, the Pizza and Salad Girl
- Amaury Nolasco as Carlos, a Dominican man who Wayne recruits to his little league team.
- Bill Romanowski as Karl
- Ellie Schneider as Carol
- Reggie Jackson as himself, he is recruited by Mel to help train Gus, Richie, and Clark.
- Danny McCarthy as Troy
- Sean Salisbury as Brad, a little league coach who picks on Richie and Clark.
- Matt Weinberg as Kyle
- John P. Farley as Swimmer Boy
- Terry Crews as Steven (Poker Guy #1)
- Blake Clark as Umpire, an umpire who is bribed by Wayne to let Carlos play for his team.
- Dennis Dugan as Coach Bellows
- Joe Gnoffo as Marcus Ellwood, a man who Gus used to pick on when they were boys.
- Jon Moscot[2]
- Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Ellwood
- Patrick Schwarzenegger as Jock Kid Game #3[3]
- Rachel Hunter as Clark Reedy’s first kiss
Voices
- Doug Jones as Number 7, Mel's robot servant.
- William Daniels as K.I.T.T.
- James Earl Jones as a Darth Vader Gatekeeper System that is positioned outside of Mel's house.
Production
The Benchwarmers was shot at various locations in California, mostly in Agoura Hills, in Chumash Park and at a Pizza Hut. Other locations were Chino Hills; Chino; Culver City; Glendale; Watson Drug Store – Chapman Avenue, Orange; Simi Valley; Westwood, Los Angeles and on Mulholland Hwy, Malibu (Mel's house).
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes it scored 13% based on 71 reviews, with the site's consensus reading, "A gross-out comedy that is more sophomoric than funny, The Benchwarmers goes down swinging."[4] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 25 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[6]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote: "The Benchwarmers is the sort of trash that Hollywood does really well" and noted it was only in theaters to raise awareness for the home-rental market. Dargis concludes by quoting Schneider, who called it "a master's thesis on the form of a quintessential Adam Sandler comedy."[7]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it a positive review: "This morphing of "The Bad News Bears" and a "Three Stooges" episode parades its dumbness with such zip that it almost passes for clever."[8]
Box office
The film was a box office success. In its opening weekend, it grossed $19.6 million, ranking second at the North American box office behind Ice Age: The Meltdown. The film finished with $59,843,754 domestically and $5,113,537 in other markets, totaling $64,957,291 worldwide.[1] The film held the record for the highest opening weekend gross for a baseball genre film,[9][10] until 2013 when it was surpassed by the Jackie Robinson film "42".[11]
Award nominations
- Choice Movie - Comedy
- Choice Movie Actor – Comedy (Jon Heder)
- Choice Movie Rumble (Jon Heder vs. Karl's Auto Body)
- Choice Movie Chemistry (Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder)
2006 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards:
- Worst On-Screen Hairstyle (David Spade)
- Worst Actor (Rob Schneider)
- Worst Actor of the Decade (Rob Schneider)
Sequel
In July 2018, Revolution Studios and Universal 1440 announced a direct-to-DVD sequel, titled Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls. The film was released on January 29, 2019, with Jon Lovitz reprising his role as Mel Carmichael.[12] The rest of the cast consists of Chris Klein, Chelsey Reist, Lochlyn Munro, and Garfield Wilson.
References
- ^ a b c "The Benchwarmers (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
- ^ "Jon Moscot Bio". Pepperdine University Official Athletic Site.
- ^ Cindy Adams, Patrick Schwarzenegger: Acting is how I bonded with Arnold, Pagesix.com, 26 March 2018
- ^ "The Benchwarmers Review". Retrieved 31 August 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "The Benchwarmers". Retrieved 2021-08-31.
- ^ "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Benchwarmers, The" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (April 8, 2006). "'The Benchwarmers': 3 Amigos of Baseball in a Yuk-fest". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-06-18.
- ^ Owen Gleiberman (2006-04-12). "The Benchwarmers". Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ John Young. "'Lion King 3D' defends crown with $22.1 million". EW.com. CNN.
If the estimate holds, that'll represent the best opening ever for a baseball film
- ^ Ray Subers (September 22, 2011). "Forecast: Odds Favor 'Moneyball'". Box Office Mojo.
just a little bit lower than the best opening ever for a baseball movie, which belongs to the 2006 comedy The Benchwarmers
- ^ Smith, Grady (April 14, 2013). "Box office report: '42' knocks it out of the park with $27.3 million; 'Oblivion' huge overseas". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
- ^ "From Universal 1440 Entertainment And Revolution Studios: Benchwarmers 2" (Press release). Universal City, California: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. July 19, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018 – via PR Newswire.
External links
- 2006 films
- 2000s sports comedy films
- American films
- American sports comedy films
- English-language films
- American baseball films
- American buddy films
- Films with screenplays by Allen Covert
- Films produced by Adam Sandler
- Films produced by Jack Giarraputo
- Films directed by Dennis Dugan
- Columbia Pictures films
- Revolution Studios films
- Happy Madison Productions films
- 2006 comedy films