''The Benchwarmers'' is a 2006 American
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
-
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
produced by
Revolution Studios
Revolution Studios Distribution Company, LLC is an American motion picture and television studio headed by Chief Executive Officer Scott Hemming.
The company focuses primarily on the distribution, remake and sequel rights to titles in its librar ...
and
Happy Madison Productions
Happy Madison Productions is an American film and television production company founded in 1999 by Adam Sandler, which is best known for its comedy films. Happy Madison takes its name from the films ''Happy Gilmore'' and ''Billy Madison'', two b ...
, distributed by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
, directed by
Dennis Dugan
Dennis Barton Dugan (born September 5, 1946) is an American director, actor, writer, artist and comedian. He is known for his partnership with comedic actor Adam Sandler, for whom he directed the films ''Happy Gilmore'', '' Big Daddy'', ''The Be ...
, written by
Allen Covert
Allen Stephen Covert (born October 12, 1964) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for his starring role in the 2006 comedy film '' Grandma's Boy'', and his supporting actor role in the movie '' Strange Wilderne ...
and
, and starring
Rob Schneider
Robert Michael Schneider (; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', he went on to a career in feature films, including starri ...
,
David Spade
David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...
and
Jon Heder
Jonathan Joseph Heder (; born October 26, 1977) is an American actor, best known for his role as the title character of the 2004 comedy film ''Napoleon Dynamite''. He has also appeared in the films '' Just Like Heaven'', ''The Benchwarmers'', ''S ...
with
Jon Lovitz
Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in '' The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in '' A League of ...
,
Craig Kilborn
Craig Lawrence Kilborn (born August 24, 1962) is an American comedian, sports and political commentator, actor, and television host. Kilborn began a career in sports broadcasting in the late 1980s, leading to an anchoring position at ESPN's ''Spo ...
,
Molly Sims
Molly Sims (born May 25, 1973) is an American fashion model and actress. She has been featured in campaigns by a number of major brands, including Jimmy Choo, Escada, Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, and Chanel. She was a frequent model in the ''Sp ...
and
Tim Meadows
Timothy Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for ten seasons and for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emm ...
in supporting roles. It tells the story of three nerds and a billionaire forming the titular baseball team to take on the little league baseball teams. The film has developed a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
over the years since its release, especially amongst baseball fans.
A
direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
sequel titled ''Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls'' was released in January 2019.
Plot
Gus Matthews, Richie Goodman, and Clark Reedy are adult "nerds" who spent their childhoods longing to play baseball, but never got the chance.
When a nerdy, chubby, unathletic boy named Nelson Carmichael and his friends are bullied and kicked off a baseball diamond by a local
little league
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization[mental institution
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...]
. Seizing this opportunity, Jerry and Steven expose Gus' secret to the public, shaming Gus into resigning from the team. After a talk with Liz, Gus sincerely apologizes to Marcus just before the final game.
Mel enlists ''Ultimate Home Remodel'' to build his stadium. On the day of the big game against Jerry's baseball team, Marcus forgives Gus in front of everyone at the beginning of the final game. Gus re-joins the team, announcing that Marcus is the Benchwarmers' new third-base coach.
In the final game, Gus, Clark, and Richie let a team consisting of Nelson and other non-athletic children play, to give them a chance to play. In the final inning, the Benchwarmers are losing, but Jerry's team sees that the Benchwarmers are having fun playing the game anyway. Seeing how abusive and uncaring Jerry is and realizing the true spirit of the game, they decide to let Nelson score a run, saying that Jerry is "the loser". The Benchwarmers storm the field, celebrating the fact that they were not shut out.
The entire Benchwarmers team, along with the kids from Jerry's team, Marcus, and even Carlos and Wayne, celebrate at
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
. Richie and Clark get girlfriends, Howie informs Wayne that he's not a big fan of the Moon, and Gus announces that he is going to become a father.
Cast
*
Rob Schneider
Robert Michael Schneider (; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', he went on to a career in feature films, including starri ...
as Gus Matthews, a nerd and reformed childhood bully who works as a groundskeeper.
*
David Spade
David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...
as Richie Goodman, a nerd and video rental store worker.
*
Jon Heder
Jonathan Joseph Heder (; born October 26, 1977) is an American actor, best known for his role as the title character of the 2004 comedy film ''Napoleon Dynamite''. He has also appeared in the films '' Just Like Heaven'', ''The Benchwarmers'', ''S ...
as Clark Reedy, a nerd and paperboy.
*
Jon Lovitz
Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in '' The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in '' A League of ...
as Mel Carmichael, a billionaire who funds the Benchwarmers.
*
Craig Kilborn
Craig Lawrence Kilborn (born August 24, 1962) is an American comedian, sports and political commentator, actor, and television host. Kilborn began a career in sports broadcasting in the late 1980s, leading to an anchoring position at ESPN's ''Spo ...
as Jerry McDowell, a mean-spirited little league coach that picked on Richie and Clark.
*
Molly Sims
Molly Sims (born May 25, 1973) is an American fashion model and actress. She has been featured in campaigns by a number of major brands, including Jimmy Choo, Escada, Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, and Chanel. She was a frequent model in the ''Sp ...
as Liz Matthews, the wife of Gus.
*
Tim Meadows
Timothy Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for ten seasons and for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emm ...
as Wayne, a little league coach who is one of Jerry's friends.
*
as Howie Goodman, Richie's
agoraphobic
Agoraphobia is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can ...
and
heliophobic brother.
*
Erinn Bartlett
Erinn Anne Bartlett (born February 26, 1973) is an American actress who also competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant.
Early life and education
Bartlett was born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in co ...
as Sarah, the Pizza and Salad Girl
*
Amaury Nolasco
Amaury Nolasco Garrido (born December 24, 1970) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer, best known for the role of Fernando Sucre on the Fox television series '' Prison Break'', and for his role in ''Transformers''.
Early life
Nolasco was born ...
as Carlos, a Dominican man whoM Wayne recruits to his little league team.
*
Bill Romanowski
William Thomas Romanowski (born April 2, 1966) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. Nicknamed "Romo" and "RomoCop", he spent the majority of his career with the San Francisco 4 ...
as Karl, a little league coach who is one of Jerry's friends.
*
Reggie Jackson
Reginald Martinez Jackson (born May 18, 1946) is an American former professional baseball right fielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Cali ...
as himself
*
Sean Salisbury
Richard Sean Salisbury (born March 9, 1963) is an American football analyst, former National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback, and actor. He is currently the host of '' The Sean Salisbury Show'' on KBME, Sport ...
as Brad, a little league coach who picks on Richie and Clark.
*
Patrick Schwarzenegger
Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger (born September 18, 1993) is an American model, actor, investor, and entrepreneur. He is the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver.
Early life and family
Schwarzenegger was born at Providence St ...
as Jock Kid Game #3
*
Terry Crews
Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former American footballer. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/ CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'', which aired from 2005 to 2009, and portrayed Terry Jeffords in ...
as Steven
*
Dan Patrick Dan Patrick may refer to:
* Dan Patrick (ice hockey) (born 1938), Canadian ice hockey player
* Dan Patrick (politician) (born 1950), Lieutenant Governor of Texas and political and sports radio journalist
* Dan Patrick (sportscaster) (born 1956), Ame ...
as O'Malley
Voices
*
Doug Jones as Number 7, Mel's robot servant.
*
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...
as a
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...
Gatekeeper System that is positioned outside of Mel's house.
*
William Daniels
William David Daniels (born March 31, 1927) is an American actor, who is best known for his television roles, notably as Mark Craig in the drama series '' St. Elsewhere'', for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards; the voice of KITT in the tel ...
as
KITT
KITT or K.I.T.T. is the short name of two fictional characters from the adventure franchise ''Knight Rider''. While having the same acronym, the KITTs are two different entities: one known as the Knight Industries Two Thousand, which appeared i ...
(uncredited)
Production
''The Benchwarmers'' was shot at various locations in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, mostly in
Agoura Hills
Agoura Hills () is a city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 20,330 at the 2010 census, which decreased to
20,299 in 2020. It is in the eastern Conejo Valley between the S ...
, in Chumash Park and at a
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
. Other locations were
Chino Hills;
Chino;
Culver City
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...
;
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
* Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
*Glendale, Queensland, ...
; Watson Drug Store Chapman Avenue,
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
;
Simi Valley
Simi Valley (; Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in the valley of the same name in the southeast region of Ventura County, California, United States. Simi Valley is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. The ...
;
Westwood, Los Angeles
Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south ...
and on Mulholland Hwy,
Malibu (Mel's house).
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
''The Benchwarmers'' scored 13% based on 71 reviews, with the site's consensus reading, "A gross-out comedy that is more sophomoric than funny, ''The Benchwarmers'' goes down swinging." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 25 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
wrote: "The Benchwarmers is the sort of trash that Hollywood does really well" and noted it was only in theaters to raise awareness for the home-rental market. Dargis concludes by quoting Schneider, who called it "a master's thesis on the form of a quintessential Adam Sandler comedy."
Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
gave it a positive review: "This morphing of "
The Bad News Bears
''The Bad News Bears'' is a 1976 American sports comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Bill Lancaster. It stars Walter Matthau as an alcoholic ex-baseball pitcher who becomes a coach for a youth baseball team known as the Bears. ...
" and a "
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...
" episode parades its dumbness with such zip that it almost passes for clever."
Box office
The film was a box office success. In its opening weekend, it grossed $19.6 million, ranking second at the North American box office behind ''
Ice Age: The Meltdown''. The film finished with $59,843,754 domestically and $5,113,537 in other markets, totaling $64,957,291 worldwide.
The film held the record for the highest opening weekend gross for a baseball genre film, until 2013 when it was surpassed by the
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
film "
42".
Award nominations
2006 Teen Choice Awards:
*
Choice Movie - Comedy
*
Choice Movie Actor – Comedy (Jon Heder)
*
Choice Movie Rumble (Jon Heder vs. Karl's Auto Body)
* Choice Movie Chemistry (Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder)
2006 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards:
* Worst On-Screen Hairstyle (David Spade)
2007 Razzie Awards:
* Worst Actor (Rob Schneider)
2010 Razzie Awards:
* Worst Actor of the Decade (Rob Schneider)
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 25, 2006.
Sequel
In July 2018, Revolution Studios and
Universal 1440 Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
announced a direct-to-DVD sequel titled ''Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls''. The film was released on January 29, 2019, with
Jon Lovitz
Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in '' The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in '' A League of ...
reprising his role as Mel Carmichael.
The rest of the cast consists of
Chris Klein,
Chelsey Reist
Chelsey Marie Reist (born January 4, 1987) is a Canadian actress, television host, and dancer. From 2014 to 2018 she played Harper McIntyre in The CW's sci-fi television series ''The 100''. She starred as Rachel in the 2012 horror film ''No Tell ...
,
Lochlyn Munro
Lochlyn Munro (born February 12, 1966) is a Canadian actor. His most notable film roles include ''A Night at the Roxbury'' (1998), ''Scary Movie'' (2000), ''Freddy vs. Jason'' (2003), ''White Chicks'' (2004), '' The Predator'' (2018) and ''Cosm ...
, and Garfield Wilson.
References
External links
*
*
David Spade interview for ''The Benchwarmers''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benchwarmers, The
2006 films
2006 comedy films
2000s sports comedy films
American sports comedy films
2000s English-language films
American baseball films
American buddy films
Columbia Pictures films
Films produced by Adam Sandler
Films produced by Jack Giarraputo
Films directed by Dennis Dugan
Films with screenplays by Allen Covert
Films with screenplays by Nick Swardson
Happy Madison Productions films
Revolution Studios films
2000s American films