The Benchwarmers stars Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder as three friends who decide to ban together and create a baseball team of nerds to stand up to the sports bullies. Well, actually, those three are the baseball team. When Schneider spots some punks kicking a group of nerds off a baseball field, he decides, along with Spade and Heder, that it’s time that “the Benchwarmers” have a chance to show their stuff. They challenge the punks to a game and whip their tails. Well, Gus (Schneider) actually carries the team, but who cares – they win!
They are then approached by one of the nerds’ father, played to a tee by Jon Lovitz, who shares that he’s a former nerd, now billionaire who’d like to make the bullies pay for their bad choices in life. He offers that a fantastic field will be built for whichever team wins the tournament he has initiated. Of course, the Benchwarmers want to win this and that’s the goal. Lovitz calls in Reggie Jackson to train them and gets the ball rolling. By the end of the movie, life lessons are learned about what’s really important and plenty of laughs have been had.
While The Benchwarmers actually had a few too many vomit and fart scenes for my tastes, most of the movie was actually really, really funny. Spade and Heder are hysterical in their roles and Schneider is pretty damn funny as well, although he plays the hero and somewhat hot guy in this movie. Go figure. Stealing the show, however, is Nick Swardson (Reno 911), one of the writers who also stars as Spade’s agoraphobic brother, Howie. I screamed with laughter at a number of his scenes. He is brilliant. Molly Sims shows up as Schneider’s wife, Rachel Hunter as a hot mom, Craig Kilborn and Tim Meadows as bully kids’ parents, and check the credits for famous names like Schwarzenneger, Sandler and Farley – all relatives of some mighty famous folks…
Overall, aside from the proliferation of potty humor, which is a mainstay in any film brought to you by the team of Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo, this movie was hilarious. Highly recommended.
