Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

You've probably seen the 1976 version of The Bad News Bears starring Walter Mathau. It's a movie about a washed-up ex-baseball player who begins coaching a team of misfit kids in a local league. The coach is an alcoholic bum with no interest in the kids until some turning point in the movie and then he turns his life around and begins coaching and the kids go on to do well.

1976 seems to be a better setting for this movie than 2006. In 1976 we rode in cars without seat belts and we were less politically correct. Watching the 1976 version just seemed to fit. I didn't love the 1976 version, but it worked on some level.

This version stars Billy Bob Thornton who is entirely capable of playing a real turd, so the casting was right, but there was something very painful about watching the 2006 version of the Bad News Bears. It's basically the same movie. I mean it's the same story, the same characters, the same events, the same crude humor and even the same lines in many cases. It was hard to watch this version and not think to myself how much has changed in the last 30 years.

I didn't like it. I didn't like the 1976 version that much either, so I'm not surprised. If you think mean, drunk, rude and crude are funny, you'll probably get a kick out of it. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother. 0.5π.