Bad News Bears

The 1976 original starring Walter Matthau as a Little League baseball coach stands as one of the greater films about kids ever put to film. Director Richard Linklater’s School of Rock also gets that honor, but this useless remake of the baseball classic should’ve never been made. Billy Bob Thornton takes over Matthau’s role of Morris Buttermaker, former pitcher and all-out drunk. This essentially provides Thornton with an opportunity to revisit his Bad Santa shtick, and while some pretty decent obscene riffing ensues, it doesn’t keep this one from feeling like a useless endeavor. The re-make is often very faithful to the original’s script, making the changes jarring and just a little blasphemous. Greg Kinnear does semi-decent work as an opposing little league coach with control issues (played by the late Vic Morrow in the original). There’s just no reason for this thing.