I watch a lot of movies, some of which are at least a little bit silly. I do like silly movies sometimes. Baseball is a very popular sport and it has been included in several movies. I’m really not a baseball fan, but I will see movies that feature the sport because I have managed to like some of them. In the spring of 2006, Benchwarmers was released. It did look like it would be mostly silly, but I was still interested in seeing it.

Gus, Richie, and Clark were three somewhat nerdy friends. One day they saw some boys picking on some less athletic boys at a local baseball diamond. That brought up memories from childhood for the men and they decided to play the bullies in a baseball game to teach them a lesson. Mel, the rich father of one of the boys that was picked on, came up with an idea. He wanted to sponsor a tournament in which Gus, Richie, and Clark wold play against little league teams.

Baseball played a very important part in Benchwarmers. Most of the characters involved in playing the games were children. I have seen other movies that featured children’s teams. Having adults play against the children was a bit different. It really wasn’t realistic for one team to be made up of only three players. Most of the sports movies I have seen have featured teams that were underdogs, so that aspect of this movie wasn’t anything new. It also wasn’t anything new to have coaches that were obsessed with winning. I do understand baseball a bit more than some other sports, so I wasn’t confused by the baseball like I have been by other sport things in other movies. I do think that people that don’t like baseball could enjoy the movie.

Benchwarmers was a comedy that did get silly at times. That didn’t bother me and I was entertained by the movie overall. People need to be in the mood for a silly movie to be able to enjoy this one. Richie and Clark did several things that added humor. They were humorous characters in general that had absolutely no talent in baseball. It was normal for Clark to send the bat flying when he tried to hit the ball. Richie and Clark’s attempts to play baseball did add a lot of humor. A few of the scenes did include some gross things, including vomit, that were done for humor. I could have done without those scenes.

Gus, Richie, and Clark were good friends. Gus wasn’t as much of a nerd as the other two. He was actually fairly good at playing baseball and he was married. He had some reservations about starting a family which added a small amount of trouble for him. Rob Schneider was fine in the part. Richie and Clark had known each other for years. They had both been teased horribly as children and they were still teased at times as adults. Neither one had ever had a girlfriend. They were nice but dorky. David Spade and Jon Heder were good and believable in the parts. The only other movie I’ve seen Heder in was Just Like Heaven. He played a very different type of character in that movie.

Mel was a very rich guy who was still a nerd. He had been teased as a child and now his son was facing the same thing. Mel had a huge house full of things, including robots from movies and even had the car from the television show Knight Rider and one of the old Batmobiles. He came up with the idea for the tournament after he saw Gus, Richie, and Clark playing against the first group of kids. John Lovitz handled the part well without getting irritating like he has in some other parts. Craig Kilborn and Tim Meadows had small parts as two of the little league coaches who would do anything to win. Mel decided to bring in Reggie Jackson to try to train the men. Jackson played himself in the movie.

Main Cast

Jon Heder - Clark
Craig Kilborn - Jerry
Jon Lovitz - Mel
Tim Meadows - Wayne
Rob Schneider - Gus
Molly Sims - Liz
David Spade - Richie

Dennis Dugan - Director

DVD Information

Benchwarmers is available on DVD now. The DVD had some deleted scenes, commentaries, a behind the scenes featurette with Reggie Jackson, and a few other things related to baseball. I didn’t have a chance to check out the extra features before I had to take the DVD back.

Benchwarmers was a silly, mildly entertaining movie. It isn’t one of the better comedies I have seen, but it could have been much worse. This could be a good pick for people in the mood for something silly.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older