The Concept Has Been Done, But The Movie Never Gets Old.

Rating: 6/10 (13 April 2016)

The Benchwarmers does not star Adam Sandler, but it is a Happy Madison creation starring some of Sandler's best friends. His other best friends were off doing his other creation entitled "Grandma's Boy" which as much better than this.
This was back in the days when Sandler films were actually good and funny. This is not great, but it has good morals and truly funny moments.
The Benchwarmers is about the bullying misadventures of three geeky friends: landscaper Gus Matthews (Rob Schneider); video clerk Richie Goodman (David Spade); and paper boy Clark Reede (Jon Heder). All have been subjected to bullying their whole lives and want it all to stop. When the guys witness a group of little league kids harass a nerdy rich boy, it reaffirms Gus' gift for baseball and gives Clark and Richie confidence. The guys meet the kid's billionaire father, Mel (Jon Lovitz), who has an idea to start a baseball tournament with them playing against the little leaguers. Just as the guys are blossoming and doing well in the tournament, a secret about one of them is revealed that changes everybody's perspective of the issue.
Yes, there are flaws. Yes, most of them are forgivable. Mel says to start a round-robin tournament, but it is just regular one-game elimination: completely different from round- robin. Then there's the scene when they meet Mel: it makes no sense. Then there's Schneider's wife being played by Molly Sims: its always odd seeing a a hot chick that's taller than her ugly husband.
Then there are flaws that are unforgivable (two to be exact). The first deals with the status of bullies and the victims. The Benchwarmers themselves--the geeks--have dead-end jobs that's just sad to see 40-year-olds do. Then the guys that bullied them when they were younger, (and still do) are successful business men and own their own stores. This is a very wrong message to send to people--if you bully, you will become a success. That's so wrong! A terrible message! If anything, it is the other way around!
The other flaw is the reveal that I mentioned that changes the fate. It turns out that Gus was the biggest bully in his town at the time who picked on everybody hardcore. He picked so hard on one kid who was a midget so badly that he had to be put in a mental institution. Gus feels tremendous guilt and does not want to have kids because he is afraid of karma. When the story breaks, he gets kicked out of the team and everybody betrays him. I've always hated that aspect. Gus says on TV how bad bullying is. And it is very evident how much he's changed. He's such a great person now. He's not the same person he once was! His eyes are filled up with tears as he tries to hold back his cry of guilt after his friends find out about it. Does that not say something!? It leads to some good talk about bullies and everything, but they could have had that talk if the before part was changed!
Luckily, the comedy makes up for this. Then there's how well the characters were written.
3/4