| The Benchwarmers | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Dennis Dugan |
| Produced by | Adam Sandler Jack Giarraputo |
| Written by | Allen Covert Nick Swardson |
| Starring | Rob Schneider Jon Heder David Spade Jon Lovitz Nick Swardson |
| Music by | Waddy Wachtel |
| Cinematography | Thomas Ackerman |
| Editing by | Peck Prior Sandy Solowitz |
| Studio | Revolution Studios Happy Madison |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 7, 2006 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $33 million |
| Box office | $64,957,291 |
The Benchwarmers is a 2006 American sports-comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan. It stars Rob Schneider, Jon Heder and David Spade. It is produced by Revolution Studios and Happy Madison Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures.
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Gus, Clark and Richie (Rob Schneider, Jon Heder and David Spade) are three middle-aged 'nerds'; Clark and Richie were the unpopular children who were constantly bullied by 'jocks' and were always left on the bench at the little league baseball games, because of their less-than-stellar athletic abilities. When a nerdy boy named Nelson and his friends are kicked off a nearby baseball diamond by a team of bullies, Gus and Clark chase the bullies away. When Gus and Clark return with Richie to play again and get back their feel for the game, the bullies return and demand that they leave. Gus challenges the bullies to play them for the field, and the three friends, despite Clark and Richie's poor abilities, win the game. Days later, one of Clark and Richie's bullies, Brad, challenges them to another baseball game with his team, but the three friends win again.
Later, Nelson's billionaire father, Mel (Jon Lovitz), tells the trio that he is impressed with their wins, and explains his plan to hold a round-robin tournament with all the little league teams in the state, plus their team. The winners will be given access to a new multi-million dollar baseball park that he is building. Wanting to capture the spirit and fun they never had when they were children, the three decide to form the Benchwarmers and to join the tournament. They prepare to compete with all the other teams, despite the fact that they are three adults against nine children per team.
After winning the first game, Mel's friend, the former New York Yankees superstar Reggie Jackson, helps the Benchwarmers (mainly Clark and Richie) to train using unorthodox methods (childhood pranks and games such as ding-dong ditch, hot potato, and mailbox smashing). In the second game, just as the Benchwarmers are about to lose, Richie uses one of Reggie's unorthodox methods to score a home run, winning the game.
The Benchwarmers then go from county to county (including Gus' hometown, Brookdale), winning the next two games to reach to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, the rival team hires a drunken 50-year-old Dominican man named Carlos as the team's new pitcher by bribing the umpire. Carlos is more than a match for the Benchwarmers, but they manage to come back by making Carlos too drunk to play well. In the last inning, the umpire has Richie's agoraphobic younger brother, Howie (Nick Swardson), be on deck. Howie ends up being hit in the arm by Carlos, but forces in the winning run for the Benchwarmers, sending them to the finals.
Just when it is looking like the stadium is all theirs, a bully named Steven (Terry Crews) reports to the public that Gus was a brutal bully himself as a child, not a victim of bullies like Clark and Richie. He had bullied one child so intensely that the boy, named Marcus, had to be sent to a mental institution. Gus is kicked off the team as a result, but at his wife, Liz's (Molly Sims), suggestion, Gus apologizes to Marcus (Joey Gnoffo). Marcus arrives at the final game to reveal to the crowd that Gus had apologized and felt awful about what he did when he was kid, and Gus re-joins the team, announcing that Marcus is the Benchwarmers' new third-base coach.
In the final game, Gus, Clark and Richie do not play; rather, they let a team of Nelson and other children play, to give them a chance to compete. The final is played against a team with a heartless coach, Jerry (dubbed by Gus as "Fairy Jerry") (Craig Kilborn), who practically torments his players - and was Richie and Clark's main bully when they were children. In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Benchwarmers are losing, 42-0, when Jerry's team, after realizing that the true meaning of baseball is to have fun, throws Nelson a "meatball" pitch down the middle. Nelson hits the ball, and Jerry's team lets him score a run, saying that Jerry is "the loser". The Benchwarmers storm the field, celebrating the fact that they were not shut out, and they give an enraged Jerry a taste of his own medicine, hanging him from the dugout fence by his underwear.
The Benchwarmers celebrate at Pizza Hut, where Gus reveals to everyone that he is going to be a father, because he "went all the way" with Liz. Everyone celebrates, except for Howie, who screams in terror after realizing what "went all the way" meant.
The Benchwarmers was shot in various locations in California, including [[Chino Hills, California]|Chino Hills]; Chino; Chumash Park - 5550 Medea Valley Drive, Agoura Hills; Culver City; Glendale; Los Angeles; Orange; Pizza Hut - 5146 Kanon Road, Agoura Hills; Simi Valley; Watson Drug Store - 116 E. Chapman Avenue, Orange; and Westwood, Los Angeles.
The film received generally negative reviews from critics with a 12% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 66 reviews and 25 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 17 reviews.[1][2] The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was "a gross-out comedy that is more sophomoric than funny, The Benchwarmers goes down swinging". However, the film received a more positive score of 71% on the site's audience rating.[1]
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $19.6 million, ranking second at the North American box office. The film grossed $59,843,754 domestically and $5,113,537 in foreign markets, totaling $64,957,291 worldwide.[3]
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