Ranking Every Richard Linklater Film Worst To Best

19. Bad News Bears (2005)

A re-imaging of the 1976 comedy of the same name, Bad News Bears follows an alcoholic former baseball star (Billy Bob Thornton) as he juggles his personal demons with his new gig as a Little League coach.

Remakes are, as a whole, a divisive type of film. They can either add too much to the original product, making it appear overblown and almost crude, or they can add too little and end up looking like a weak money grab. Unfortunately, Linklater's film is neither of these things - it's just unnecessary and forgettable.

Linklater's own brand of direction doesn't have the same pop that comes with his far stronger works, and he adds nothing to the story to justify the film's existence. It's nice in the washed-up-protagonist-is-really-a-good-guy kind of way, and sure it's sweet underneath all the predictability, but all told it's the sort of the film you forget as soon as you've finished it.