Hardball humour

Reviewed - Bad News Bears: Scrunch up your eyes a little and you might just recognise this modestly entertaining remake of Michael Ritchie's 1976 little-league baseball comedy as the work of Richard Linklater.

The picture has the loose-limbed, unstructured feel we have come to expect from the director of Slacker and it showcases his talent for drawing out natural, unforced performances.

Is this all good news? Whereas School of Rock, the directors previous dissolute-mentor-inspires-cheeky-tykes movie, slipped comfortably into the mainstream, Bad News Bears occasionally gets bogged down in the marshy area where art meets commerce.

Billy Bob Thornton, doing next to nothing with considerable aplomb, stars as a former major league pitcher forced to work as a pest exterminator to keep himself in liquor and cheroots. Reluctantly he accepts an offer from prim Marcia Gay Harden to coach the dreadful baseball team her son plays for. With a little help from his sour daughter and her rocket launcher of an arm, Thornton gradually pulls the side together.

The dialogue is as politically incorrect as one might expect from Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the writers of Bad Santa, and there is an agreeable reluctance to moralise or pretend that dissoluteness isn't fun. Thornton begins the picture as a boozer with a taste for big-balconied broads and that is, by and large, how he remains throughout.

The lazy kid in the wheelchair glibly exploits his handicap. The fat kid curses as much as is possible in a 12A flick. It is a pleasure to report that such unwholesome entertainment is still being made available to our youngsters.

Sadly the film does rather fall to pieces in its last act. The final championship game is far too long and, given how closely we are expected to follow the action, is sure to confuse those not familiar with the rules. As it plays itself out, a handful of half-formed proto-plots - Thornton's romance with Harden, his rivalry with Greg Kinnear - fail to reach satisfactory conclusions. There is surely some facet of baseball that could serve as an analogy for such a qualified success. You'll have to seek it out for yourself.