2K Replay: THE BENCHWARMERS

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Worst On-Screen Hairstyle” (David Spade) at the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. He lost to Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code.

• Best Scene/Moment: The sequence where little league coach Tim Meadows sneaks a drunk, adult, semi-pro baseball player (played by Amaury Nolasco) onto his little league team so he can’t beat The Benchwarmers.

• Best Song (tie): “Gasolina” by Daddy Yankee and “Thank You for Sending Me an Angel” by Talking Heads.

• Best Merch: A “The Benchwarmers 2006 Screen Used Wayne Hardware Outfit - Tim Meadows” for $785.00. What better way to reminisce about the best scene in The Benchwarmers than by wearing the screen-used costume of an actor in that scene?! Don’t let the cost dissuade you. Just skip taking your family to baseball games for a couple of seasons. They’ll understand when you strut around the house in this sleek uni.

• Director Grade: The Benchwarmers was directed by Dennis Dugan.
Great Movies: Happy Gilmore
Good Movies: Big Daddy, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
OK Movies: Problem Child, Saving Silverman, The Benchwarmers, Just Go with It, Jack and Jill
Bad Movies: Beverly Hills Ninja, I Know Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2
Unseen By Me: Brain Donors, National Security, Love Weddings & Other Disasters
Overall Grade: C

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Beer League

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Everyone’s Hero, Grandma’s Boy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

• Ella McCay or The Benchwarmers? Ella McCay

• Mall Movie? Yes. All Happy Madison movies are mall movies. Plus, the trio of Rob Schneider-David Spade-Jon Heder is about as mall as it gets.

• Only in 2006: Rob Schneider plays a talented athlete.

• Scene Stealer (tie): Jon Lovitz and Amaury Nolasco.

• I Miss: When there were a lot of sports movies in theaters during the 2000s.

• I Don’t Miss: Rob Schneider movies.

• 2006 Crush (tie): Molly Sims and Baseball.

• 2026 Crush (tie): Brooke Langton and Baseball.

• What I Thought in 2006: I remember thinking The Benchwarmers was surprisingly funny and a real find being that I saw it with low expectations at the dollar theater. It was super weird but not in a bad way -- the jokes hit more often than not, and it was okay too as a sports movie.

• What I Think in 2026: It’s nowhere near as good as I remembered, but I will give Happy Madison credit for consistently making very weird PG-13 comedies. Also, the trio of Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Jon Heder work well together even if individually they kinda don’t. It’s hard to explain but makes sense in my head. I don’t like any of their characters but they’re of a piece.