Bad News Bears (2005)

With an uncanny naturalness, Billy Bob Thornton helps make this remake of the 70's film into one of the best comedies in years. It's about a boozing, loser, ex-baseball-player-turned-pest-inspector who, for the money, takes the job of coaching a team of sixth grade rejects/delinquents. Thornton plays the kind of guy that spikes his beer with whiskey and hires strippers to act as fans at the games. The humor is beautifully irreverant and politically incorrect coming equally from Thronton and the kids, which include: a fat kid, two Spanish speakers, an Armenian, a computer nerd who is only on the team for his college transcript, and a kid in a motorized wheel-chair. Directed by indie-king, Richard Linklater, who proves that he is equally adept with this type of small scale, mainstream entertainment.