THE BENCHWARMERS
Director: Denis Dugan Stars:Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jon Heder, Jon Lovitz
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
Rob Schneider’s comedies are an acquired taste (box-office indicating that there is an audience out there), generally lower-rung, dumb and dumber type comedies. This one gets away with a little more because it takes a stand against bullies and bullying and that can’t be all bad - as well as taking as its sports theme America’s love for baseball. Which does seem to mean that if baseball is not your sport and you have a low tolerance level for corny jokes, bodily function jokes, and some general silliness, then you will have to give it a miss.
Schneider is actually the most sensible of the group, the hero, but David Spade does dumb routines and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) is terrible and irritating. Jon Lovitz, as the justifiably smug millionaire who finances a baseball team of misfits to beat the bullies, provides the best comedy.