THE BASES ARE LOADED… SO IS THE COACH.
Former NBL pro Morris Buttermaker (Billy Bob Thornton), who is now an alcoholic, unenthusiastically takes a job coaching a failing team of 12-year-olds. Thornton went from playing the coach in Friday Night Lights the previous year to doing this Bad Santa-nized remake of a 1976 Walter Matthau comedy. His character feels like a relative to the drunken santa. The film stays faithful to the original and Thornton has great rapport with the foul-mouthed, tough kids. It may go on a bit too long, and Richard Linklater’s School of Rock essentially did the same thing better, but it’s still fun.
2005-U.S. 113 min. Color. Directed by Richard Linklater. Screenplay: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa. Cast: Billy Bob Thornton (Morris Buttermaker), Greg Kinnear (Ray Bullock), Marcia Gay Harden (Liz Whitewood), Sammi Kane Kraft, Jeffrey Davies, Timmy Deters.Â
Quote: “You guys swing like Helen Keller at a piñata party.” (Thornton to his team)