Good news about "Bad News"

I really loved the "Bad News Bears" (the original) and, unlike a lot of people, loving a movie doesn't make me dread a remake. I was actually looking forward to seeing Richard Linklater's new version.

Linklater came to fame (actually came to the consciousness of a few thousand artsy people) when he made "Slacker" in the early nineties. He immediately sold out his artsy credentials by making, "Dazed and Confused." The movie didn't attract much box office, but it is a film to be savored again and again by young folks of a certain age. It's made for a group showing in a basement with friends, not for a theater packed with strangers.

And that's what Linklater has been doing since; making a film for the arthouse cinema ("Tape", "Waking Life") and then making some that were more studio friendly ("The Newton Boys"). In 2003, he proved that he could make kids and Jack Black appealing in "School of Rock" and in 2004, he made one of the two best American films of the year, "Before Sunset." (Let me take a moment to sigh as I think of Celine and Jesse talking and strolling through the City of Lights. Okay...I'm back.)

So..."Bad News Bears." Well, it's not the original, but it's not a disaster. One caveat, I did see the film with a bum audience who were not ready to laugh at anything. It takes a brave soul to giggle when the rest of the vast theater is silent. So that could be why the rhythm seemed off to me at the start. There weren't enough laughs during the top of the movie exposition. But Billy Bob does his job well. As the reluctant coach of a little league team, he seems truly sleazy and truly like he has a heart somewhere. That's a tough balancing act to maintain.

The kids acting is pretty bad, but you can forgive them because they don't seem like Hollywood actors. They don't have the gleam of Lindsey Lohan when she was in "The Parent Trap" nor do they have that forced cute, smart aleciness of the the McCauley Culkin/Gary Coleman variety. Like in "school of Rock," the kids seem like funny-looking dim bulbs that populate our schools across the country and I found myself liking them for it.

If you're worried about the remake being too politically correct, don't worry, the anarchic spirit of the first still exists. The kids have a nice sing-a-long to Clapton's "Cocaine" at one point. So in the end, I warmed up to the film, ignored the sourpusses around me and laughed.