Bad News Bears

2005
Paramount Pictures
PG-13
1/2

Morris Buttermaker (Billy Bob Thornton) gets a chance to coach the misfit team, and with the help of Amanda Whurlitzer (Sammi Kane Kraft) and Kelly Leak (Jeffrey Davies), the team manages to drive themselves to the championship.
Remake of the 1976 comedy doesn't have anywhere close to as much spirit as the original, and even though funny at times, right when something's funny, it's ruined by bad language or simple lines. Still, some things are welcome here; for one thing, rock music is more welcome here than Carmen themes, as Carmen was also used in the original. This is watchable, but Richard Linklater has done way better than this.

The Bad News Bears

1976
Paramount Pictures
PG


Beer-guzzling former minor league ballplayer Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) gets an offer by councilman Bob Whitewood (Ben Piazza) to coach a Little League team called the Bears. What the Bears turn out to be is a gang of misfits who have no feel for the game at all. Trying to get the team together has become the biggest challenge of Buttermaker's life, and eventually the team gets better and better with the help of girl star pitcher Amanda Whurlizer (Tatum O'Neal) and hitting star Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley).
Utterly stupendous baseball comedy with hilarious moments and profane language, this really has good ways to be enjoyable, and is really beyond normal movies of its time. Followed in 1977 by THE BAD NEWS BEARS IN BREAKING TRAINING, and remade in 2005 as BAD NEWS BEARS.