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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 43.08%
Worth A Look: 17.69%
Average: 10%
Pretty Bad: 6.15%
Total Crap: 23.08%
2 reviews, 118 user ratings
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| Beer League |
by Erik Childress
"Better Than Recent Sandler. Not Quite As Recent Stern."
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SCREENED AT THE 2006 CINEVEGAS FILM FESTIVAL: In a review for the film “Dirty Work”, Artie Lange was once described as having “all the charm of a date rapist.” Norm Macdonald told him that was actually a compliment since a date rapist has to have far more charm than an actual rapist. They actually need to get a date first. That’s an amusing anecdote which Lange told before the world premiere of his first headliner, Beer League, advertised with the tag of “Artie Lange’s” no doubt to draw upon the name recognition he’s established over the past few years as one of Howard Stern’s in-studio cohorts. Those fans blindly following him to the big screen may find disappointment that it doesn’t contain the average laugh quotient of half of Lange’s daily Stern appearances, but its also far less obnoxious than non-fans would expect it to be.“Anyone who doesn’t do a shot with me before the game is a fuckin’ pussy,” is hardly the line to establish Lange as a sensitive male lead. But who said this film was about sensitivity? This film is about Jersey suburbanites who use their local softball league as an excuse to drink all night and avoid their significant others. Artie’s just happens to be his mom (Laurie Metcalf) but we’ll get to that later. Lange plays Artie (DeVanzo), currently unemployed, living at home and harboring a lifetime hatred for rival Dennis Mangenelli (Anthony DeSando), a to-the-hilt goombah running for Mayor and captain of the best slow-pitch softball team in the league.
After the annual dust-up between the two teams on opening day, the Sheriff (Louis “Edgar” Lombardi from 24) decrees that the one with the worst record must take their balls and go play somewhere else next year. Naturally, the situation seems hopeless for the team which also includes Artie’s best friend, Maz (Ralph Macchio), on the verge of getting married; Johnny Trinno (Jimmy Palumbo), constantly bragging about his .700+ batting average; and Dirt (Seymour Cassel), the requisite grizzled, foul-mouthed patriarch of the group.
Using the adjective “foul-mouthed” is pretty redundant when the word “cocksucker” is thrown around like a natural term of endearment at every opportunity. Which is pretty much what I expected Beer League to be; little more than a series of expletives wrapped around a thin story where the slobs smackdown the neater slobs. Well, it’s that too, but not without a fair share of pretty good putdowns (mostly provided by Cassel) and a few situations that give Lange the opportunity to put the Stern persona fans appreciate to good use. While its certainly easy to come up golden compared to the obnoxious Manganelli, Lange and co-writer/director Frank Sebastiano allow him time to earnestly woo Jersey girl, Linda (Cara Buono, recently seen as Imperioli’s new wife on The Sopranos). Albeit with persuasion for blowjobs and handjobs, but a goombah’s got to start somewhere right?With a little more ingenuity, Beer League could have aspired to be more than just a more profane version of The Bad News Bears (to a tee right up to its climactic finale.) With Macchio being given little to do but be the straight man in the crowd anyway, what about playing “You’re the Best (Around)” during the final game montage or having a pitcher give him a little crane technique and let him acknowledge it with dismay? Other moments, like an ill-planned ride to Macchio’s wedding, fall completely flat and there aren’t quite enough laughs to redeem them all. Hardcore Stern/Lange fans may be a tad more forgiving, appreciating Lange’s selfish side and throwaway moments like the bachelor party even without benefit of a Sybian machine. Most audiences will dismiss it from memory while leaving the theater, but may not regret it as much ejecting it from their DVD player.
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=14550&reviewer=198
originally posted: 06/24/06 02:00:16
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2006 CineVegas Film Festival For more in the 2006 CineVegas Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
15-Sep-2006 (R)
DVD: 02-Jan-2007
UK
N/A
Australia
N/A
![[trailer]](/images/icon/trailericon.gif) Trailer
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