The Benchwarmers
- The Disc:4.0
Apart from the execrable Little Man, surely the unofficial award for Weirdest Movie Comedy Concept...
Apart from the execrable Little Man, surely the unofficial award for Weirdest Movie Comedy Concept Of The Year must go to The Benchwarmers. But whereas Little Man offered a potentially funny concept and absolutely nothing else (except for a slew of "gags" that would scar any viewer for life), The Benchwarmers is a surprise packet of oddball humour, tasteless sight gags and curiously loveable characters. Rob Schneider, David Spade (sporting perhaps the weirdest hairstyle in cinema history) and Jon Heder (of Napoleon Dynamite fame) are three losers who band together to play in a Little League baseball comp on behalf of all the kids deemed too nerdy and weird to even go near a sports field. That's right"¦these three grown men are playing against kids! Schneider (largely playing it straight) is the secret weapon - he's a baseball wiz with a dark past - and the world's nerds have a new trio of heroes.
Journeyman comedy director Dennis Dugan here returns to the warped tone that made his two best films - Problem Child and Evil Woman - such unexpected comic thunderbolts. The tone is deliriously scattershot, careening from gross-out fart-and-puke jokes through to genuine warmth for its nerdy characters. The result is uproariously funny, while a big bag of DVD extras (including a killer commentary from David Spade and Jon Heder, as well as deleted scenes and featurettes) makes for a very nice surprise.
