THE BENCHWARMERS
A funny baseball comedy that belongs at home with discerning adults.
Should You Watch It?
The decision is straightforward. The Benchwarmers is pretty funny when its content is clean or relatively clean. Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jon Heder and Jon Lovitz get plenty of laughs, and the movie has a strong moral message about the pain caused by bullying and the importance of asking forgiveness.
But the good baseball comedy is repeatedly undercut by material that did not need to be there. Scatological humor, foul language, off-color jokes about homosexual behavior and dwarves, sexual innuendo, alcohol use and slapstick violence make this a poor family choice. The source review also notes that the film may attract children despite not being intended for them.
Watch it only at home, and only if you are a discerning adult prepared to navigate the content.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESGus Matthews, a gardening-business owner, defends a boy named Nelson from bullying Little Leaguers. The encounter rekindles Gus’s love for baseball, so he recruits his nerdy adult friends Richie and Clark to join him on the field.
When Gus challenges the Little League team, his unlikely trio wins. Nelson’s billionaire father then proposes a tournament against Little League teams, with a professional-size baseball field as the prize.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means a comedy with real laughs and worthwhile ideas, but also avoidable weaknesses. The athletic hijinks are funny, and Schneider, Spade, Heder and Lovitz do a good job of getting laughs.
The movie’s strongest element is its moral premise: bullying causes real pain, and people who harm others should seek forgiveness. Still, the scatological humor, foul language and off-color jokes repeatedly weaken what could have been a cleaner comedy.
The Worldview
The film presents a mixed worldview. It has a strong moral premise about the evils of bullying and includes redemptive elements in which bullies and their victims make amends through forgiveness. Those are meaningful strengths.
At the same time, the story contains scatological humor, strong homosexual references and sexual material treated as comedy. The source review also identifies a pagan reference and other immoral behavior, including lying, cheating, revenge and alcohol abuse. The film’s moral message is therefore surrounded by content that can distract from it.
The reconciliation scenes carry a light, implied politically correct tone that welcomes homosexuals. The source review describes this as an “inclusiveness” approach in which excluding homosexual activity is treated as mean. Viewers should weigh that idea alongside the movie’s better message about forgiveness.
The film’s longing for reconciliation points toward a truth Scripture makes plain: “forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:13).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Mixed strong pagan worldview with some scatological humor and strong moral premise about the evils of bullying other people, plus Christian, redemptive elements where bullies and their victims make amends through forgiveness and strong homosexual references where some of the villains are homosexual characters or become homosexual and one protagonist makes jokes in one scene about renting videos containing lesbian scenes, plus reconciliation scenes at the end contain a light, implied politically correct tone that welcomes homosexuals; 20 obscenities, one strong profanity, two light profanities, man picks his nose and eats it, boys pass gas in another’s face twice, vomiting in one scene, man afraid of sunlight squirts sunblock into his mouth several times, boy has animal manure on his cheek, and man says he’s ruined inside of port-a-potty; some slapstick violence such as rock hits man in groin, man hits himself in the head a lot while swinging baseball bat, bats fly out of man’s hand and hit car and animals, men gang up on man after bat hits expensive car, and jokes made about male bullies twisting other males nipples and villains are shown twisting each other after they lose; some sexual innuendo such as woman talks about her fertility with husband, jokes made about two villains who seem to be homosexual lovers, another man seen holding hands with man in restaurant, kissing, man calls another man “Fairy Jerry,” and video salesman tries to get female customer to rent video with two lesbian sex scenes; upper male nudity and nude woman behind shower door that obscures the view; men drink beer and man gives alcohol to ringer, who then gets drunk; and, lying, brief cheating, boy takes revenge on bully, villains bring in ringer during baseball game, boys pull down man’s pants so he can’t run bases so man pulls down a boy’s pants so he can round third safely, hero makes a reference to “bad karma,” and man says, “I want a little man too” when he sees hero befriend an adult dwarf and lift the dwarf in his arms.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The film takes bullying seriously. What does it mean to relieve the pain bullying causes rather than pass it on?
Ephesians 4:29 · Romans 12:21The story includes forgiveness and reconciliation. What should someone do after harming another person?
Colossians 3:13 · Matthew 5:23–24The movie surrounds its moral message with jokes about people and behavior. How can humor honor the dignity of others instead of humiliating them?
Philippians 4:8 · Ephesians 5:4The characters pursue revenge and payback in different ways. How does Scripture distinguish justice from personal vengeance?
Romans 12:19 · Proverbs 20:22The Final Word
There are real laughs here, along with a worthwhile message about bullying and forgiveness. But the crude humor, sexual material, profanity and off-color jokes make this a poor family choice. Watch only at home, if at all, with adult discernment. WAIT FOR HOME — ADULTS ONLY. For cleaner options, see.
