Silly characters are expected of a film written and produced by Adam Sandler, but “The Benchwarmers” manages to stand out and will rightfully take its place on the shelves of notorious comedy films.
“Benchwarmers” features many stars known in the world of comedy, so it comes as no surprise that the movie kept audiences in a constant state of laughter. Aside from Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder, supporting roles are played by Jon Lovitz and Craig Kilborn.
Gus (Schneider) is the most serious and successful of the trio of benchwarmers. Gus is married and has his own home and business, unlike Clark (Heder), the quintessential “momma’s boy,” and Richie (Spade), a slightly creepy video store clerk.
These grown-up geeks form a simple baseball team – all one needs for a team is a pitcher, a catcher and a fielder – to play against 12-year-old teams comprised of typical preteen bullies. The team evolves into a status symbol for nerds all over the country as it beats teams by outlandish margins, until finally, with the backing of nerd billionaire Mel (Lovitz), the team enters a tournament to win the ultimate prize for the nerds: a brand new, state-of-the-art baseball stadium.
Schneider’s performance is the most versatile in the film. Spade and Heder give cookie-cutter performances of their earlier work – a letdown compared to Schneider. Heder, of “Napoleon Dynamite,” did a decent job as the permanently knee-padded and bike-helmeted Clark.
Former professional baseball player Reggie Jackson makes a cameo in the film after he is recruited by Mel to teach the Benchwarmers the fundamentals of baseball. Jackson tells the trio that these drills helped him hone his baseball skills as a child. The drills include running away from homes after ringing the doorbell, catching hot potatoes and whacking mailboxes with baseball bats.
The comedy was varied, as both high and low culture jokes were made. The usual farting, vomiting and titty twisters were scattered throughout the film for cheap laughs, but there were also a few adult-themed cracks stuck in between scenes.
The film accomplished everything it set out to: Audience members left the theatre in giggles and continued to quote memorable lines of dialogue long after leaving the cinema parking lot.