12 Great Directors Who Helmed Terrible Movie Remakes

Richard Linklater has the reputation of a director who simply can't put a foot wrong; everything he does, from School of Rock to Boyhood to the recent Everybody Want Some!!, is brilliantly observed, memorable and original.

Well, almost. Buried deep within the Texas-born director's filmography there sits a rather awkward curio, you see - a film that is pretty much the opposite of brilliantly observed, memorable and original. I'm taking about his ill-judged take of 1976 baseball flick The Bad News Bears, a remake I'm pretty sure that only five people are aware exists.

The original Bad News Bears, which chronicles the rise of an underdog baseball team and their alcoholic coach (played by Walter Matthau) is considered something of a cult classic, and is even adored by Quentin Tarantino to such an extent that he once listed it as one of his ten favourite films. Linklater is another huge fan, not to mention a huge baseball fan, and thus a remake probably seemed like a great idea!

Perhaps on set, though, it soon dawned upon Linklater that he had nothing much to add to the original flick, because this film is lacking. Despite casting Billy Bob Thornton in the Matthau role, the film never really gets going; it isn't funny enough to be a comedy, and it lacks the relaxed charm that makes Linklater's works so great.

Rarely will a Linklater film prompt the question: "Who was this film made for?" Sadly, that's the case with this remake. Billy Bob's good, though.