Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
A trio of guys try and make up for missed opportunities in childhood by forming a three-player baseball team to compete against standard little league squads.
The Benchwarmers is a middling Adam Sandler-produced comedy that leans heavily on lowbrow humor and a predictable underdog sports premise. The plot is thin and formulaic, hitting every expected beat without surprise. The acting is broad and cartoonish, with Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Jon Heder doing little beyond their established comedic personas. Cinematography is serviceable but utterly unremarkable, as expected of a mainstream studio comedy of the era. The concept has a mild novelty in its adult-vs-kids baseball angle but is otherwise recycled from countless sports underdog films. The ending is sentimental and telegraphed well in advance. Across the board a below-to-average effort.