Let us reiterate the rule of movie remakes: Thou shalt not remake good movies. And The Bad News Bears, the scrappy 1976 film about a washed-up drunk named Buttermaker (the incomparable Walter Matthau) who coaches a team of Little League rejects, is a good movie.
The new film, which drops the "The," cribs most of the playbook from the original, and so it can't help but come off as a lesser copy, like a tape that's been dubbed too many times. Even for those who haven't seen the original—and those who have will make many disappointing scene-by-scene comparisons—the remake feels tired, lacking the plucky spirit of the original. Worse, director Linklater can't seem to find a cast to match the quality of the original; even stars like Harden and the perpetually underwhelming Kinnear, as the coach of the Bears' main rival, feel like understudies.
Still, Thornton does a credible job in the Matthau role, throwing out foul language with unapologetic aplomb. While no one on Earth can match Matthau's irascibility, Thornton does turn Buttermaker into an enjoyable letch—you can't really picture Matthau hitting on Hooters chicks. But when one character calls the new Buttermaker a sexy scumbag, it sounds about right.