The Benchwarmers (2006)

12% of critics liked it
(69 reviews)
71% of users liked it
(396,623 ratings)

For anyone who's ever been picked on, put down or pushed around, your heroes are here! Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) star as three older guys who know what it's like to be bullied. After catching some nasty neighborhood kids picking on a friend's son, they strike back… More For anyone who's ever been picked on, put down or pushed around, your heroes are here! Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) star as three older guys who know what it's like to be bullied. After catching some nasty neighborhood kids picking on a friend's son, they strike back by forming a three-man baseball team to challenge the state's best youth teams. Now, cheered on by every nerd, geek, and misfit in town, these underdogs are about to have a field day in this slapstick hit comedy from the director of Big Daddy and Happy Gilmore and producer Adam Sandler. -- (C) Sony

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Dennis Dugan
Written By: Allen Covert, Nick Swardson
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Apr 7, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Jul 25, 2006
Studio: Sony Pictures Releasing

Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
The three losers play a series of Little League teams, snatching victory from the jaws of slapstick humiliation.
Joe Leydon, Variety
Schneider winds up playing straight man to Spade, who once again relies on his snarky coward shtick, and Heder, who comes across like someone doing a bad imitation of ... well, Heder himself in Napoleon Dynamite.
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
It's a movie packed with so many idiot characters that Rob Schneider is cast as the cool guy -- and sort of pulls it off.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Filled with sprays of vomit, fountains of spit and enough hot body air to launch a flotilla of passenger balloons, The Benchwarmers is the sort of trash that Hollywood does really well.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Sandler's latest ode to projectile vomiting, passing gas, gay jokes and physical insults to the groin is basically a feeble cross between The Revenge of the Nerds and The Bad News Bears.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
If Sandler had avoided the lowest-common-denominator humor, recast the adult ballplayers as kids, and found a decent director, he might have had a worthwhile movie. Oh, wait -- it's already been made. And it's called Bad News Bears.
Simon Weaving, Screenwize
In the last line of the film, as the final credits thankfully disappear, Richie casually says "that was a waste of time wasn't it?" Yes. Definitely.
Matt Wilkinson, Film4
It doesn't take a genius to work out what's on offer: toilet humour, physical comedy, more toilet humour and an Americans-do-it-best schmaltzy climax.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...ultimately nothing more than a silly, egregiously sentimental comedy...
Kevin A. Ranson, MovieCrypt.com
You won't know whether to roll your eyes or smile like a fool, but you will know you've been entertained.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
Seems like a wasted opportunity to strike a memorable blow for nerds everywhere.
Ethan Alter, Film Journal International
...there was actually a small smattering of applause when the movie ended. Whether they were clapping for the film or just the fact that it was finally over will have to remain a mystery.
David Mattin, BBC
The Benchwarmers is better than it should have been. Only, that's not saying much.
Damon Wise, Empire Magazine
Even Jon Lovitz with a Batmobile, a dwarf attack in a playroom, and David Spade's best wig ever can't save this mawkish misfire.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Unfunny, badly thought out and occasionally downright offensive, this is an extremely poor effort, even by the standards of other Rob Schneider movies.
Trevor Johnston, Time Out
Just when the baseball slapstick starts wearing thin, a final-reel gush of truly cynical sentiment on behalf of the physically challenged sends the ordeal-factor off the scale.
Jim Schembri, Sydney Morning Herald
Highbrow humour is not the film's strong point but there's no faulting the sincerity of this against-all-odds comedy.
Toddy Burton, Austin Chronicle
The Benchwarmers strikes out. Again and again and again.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
This abysmally static comedy, the brainfart of 'the people who brought you Big Daddy' is a mess on every level %u2026 depressingly woeful.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
Starring Schneider and Spade, whose careers have been circling the drain for years, and Heder, who won't be far behind them if he doesn't improve his career moves.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jeff "

The Benchwarmers had some minor laughs here and there, but as a memorable comedy it fails to stand out, and doesn't withstand multiple viewings. The comedy factor falls apart after awhile, and you realize how sloppily written this comedy is. The jokes are sometimes comical;… More
The Benchwarmers had some minor laughs here and there, but as a memorable comedy it fails to stand out, and doesn't withstand multiple viewings. The comedy factor falls apart after awhile, and you realize how sloppily written this comedy is. The jokes are sometimes comical; however most of them fall flat. After awhile you realize that this comedy isn't what it's supposed to be, and that's a good comedy. Everything about this film is forgettable to say the least. I did laugh, but The Benchwarmers is a mediocre comedy with washed up comedians that are very, very hit and miss. Go into The Benchwarmers with an open mind, just so you won't be disappointed. I did, and though I laughed, I still felt that this film wasn't good. If you want a mindless forgettable comedy, then this is the film to watch. Don't expect anything truly great like Superbad or The Hangover, because you will be very disappointed. Nothing is ever accomplished with this film, and the end result is a film that struggles with trying to you laugh. The film could have worked, if the script was reworked slightly and the cast was better. This is the type of film worth watching only once. The film doesn't stand out, and it has minor laughs throughout, but never anything to really laugh out loud to. If you want to watch a great comedy, this isn't the one to watch. The Benchwarmers is a mediocre comedic outing, one that has limited potential that shows its flaws on-screen.
Dead A

Not so funny. David's brother looked odd.
Bethany M

Hilarious. A really funny comedy. A must see!
Brad W

I hated this movie. It was a disgusting, stupid, pointless movie. The acting sucked and im not sure what its supposed to be. I laughed a few times because it was so idiotic, I truly despise this movie.
Richard C

C+
Coxxie M

i used to like this movie. Please send me money.
KJ P

I have to say, that this film exceeds greatly with it's comedy, but it fails in many other ways! Only, because of that do I give it 3 stars! But I can say that I love this movie!
Jani H

If you are into baseball and like cruel humor, this is a movie for you. I wouldn't say that it's a good movie but it has its funny moments. David Spade and John Heder guarantees laughs but why is Rob Schneider always portraied as a sympathetic loser who's been kicked… More
If you are into baseball and like cruel humor, this is a movie for you. I wouldn't say that it's a good movie but it has its funny moments. David Spade and John Heder guarantees laughs but why is Rob Schneider always portraied as a sympathetic loser who's been kicked around far too long?
Nani V

This movie was horrible!...Jon Heder is still trying to act like Napolian Dynamite...Their lines where not funny at all.
Bobby H

Not bad. I think they tried a little too hard, and some stuff was way far out there for enjoyment, but it did have me laughin at some parts. Not, as good as I thought though.
Leigh R

Funny film. I love Jon Heder, he rules this film. HEE!
Sanjaya &

A great story from the nerds!!! Actually, It was disgusting I think too see this movie... But, what makes this movie interesting is the meaning of their friendship... Their fun when they played baseball... Of course that was really great stories to make...
Jose Z

this movie is extremely funny, i laugh all the movie long. After failing with The Deuce Bigalow's sequel, Rob Schneider makes a very good movie that all the family can watch.
Morgan S

lol awsome movie!!
James A

First off I saw this movie because my girlfriend had to write a review on it for the Fullerton paper. Now that that's out of the way I would just like to say this movie was truly horrible. John Heder acted exactly like Napoleon Dynamite and said and did nothing funny.… More
First off I saw this movie because my girlfriend had to write a review on it for the Fullerton paper. Now that that's out of the way I would just like to say this movie was truly horrible. John Heder acted exactly like Napoleon Dynamite and said and did nothing funny. Unfortunitly the audience loved it, thus proving this is the kind of crap mainstream America likes.
Bradley W

I hated this movie. It was a disgusting, stupid, pointless movie. The acting sucked and im not sure what its supposed to be. I laughed a few times because it was so idiotic, I truly despise this movie.
Dillon L

Like most (if not all) Rob Schnieder movies, 'The Benchwarmers' is a pathetic source of comedy.
Stephen E

A reprehensible, cold, poorly-acted, poorly-scripted, abysmally awful and utterly worthless piece of unfunny trash that relies solely on predictable slapstick and fart jokes, and is incapable of doing them properly.
Bryce I

Though it might be a huge swing and miss to most people, this baseball parody, is an over the top film, that contains a good amount of cruel humor, and a long enough runtime to be entertained.
Juan C

it's a weird and hillariously funny film for the underdogs and even lower underdogs that stands out of baseball films. and this is strangly rob schnider's best film. B