Beer League

I'm a huge Howard Stern fan, and I've been excited to see this movie since I first heard Artie talking about it on the Stern show. I was not expecting much out of this movie - just a stupid movie with some good laughs. But this film fell far short of my already very low expectations. There were plot lines within plot lines within plot lines - each one slowing down any kind of flow the movie tried to catch. When the softball part started to get somewhat interesting, the love story would bog it down. Artie tried to do a John Candy and be the farcical yet believable character - but he just did a bunch of Artie-shtick. He really was not able to carry this movie. It was kind of a fun movie, but even the fun scenes such as the bachelor party felt like a drag - clumsily staged and just awkward. Ralph Maccio rocked. Hopefully he will get in more movies from doing this one. The enemy antagonist was good at his role, but it was just too unbelievable. This guy has the best softball team, owns the best gym, AND is running for mayor? All of these different plot lines began to give me a headache and made me look at my watch waiting for the end. There are some good laughs, but we get mostly one liners here. In fairness, I should add that my friend who saw it with me has never listened to the Stern show and liked the movie a lot better than I did. This is a good TV movie or Netflix movie, but I wouldn't recommend seeing it in the theaters.

This movie did a great job of bringing real life people we all know in a funny well written movie. Artie Lange did a great job portraying a character a lot like himself. He has a natural acting ability and created a warm, caring loser. The humor was crude but hysterical. The actors were all perfectly cast and enjoyable to watch. It was nice to see a low budgeted movie so well filmed and edited. I intend to go see the movie again to hear some of the jokes missed by the audience laughter. I hope to see Artie Lange do some more writing, the script was honest and believable. It obviously was a labor of love. Although there was plenty of cursing and sex-play, it added to the theme of the movie. I hope this film launches Artie to more starring roles. Hollywood needs more "honest" film-making

Artie Lange is an acquired taste. That is, if you know who he is. Not a marquee name, though definitely a recognizable face, Lange, like Adam Sandler, is the kind of comedian you either love or hate: loud, profane, and politically incorrect. Lange is basically John Belushi reincarnated (it helps that Lange looks enough like Belushi that he could play him in a bio pic). I've been a huge fan of Artie Lange's since the beginning of his career so the critique that follows should be considered pretty biased.

In BEER LEAGUE, Lange plays Artie (what a surprise), a 35-year-old alcohol-loving slacker/loser without a job who still lives with his mother (Laurie Metcalf). His life consists of little else besides attending bars, eating, and playing softball with his buddies. After getting in a fight with the championship team, it is decided by the local police that only one of the teams will be able to remain in the league at the end of the season. What follows is a series of scenes involving non-stop cursing, alcohol consumption, and some softball playing in between.

It goes without saying that BEER LEAGUE doesn't have the strongest plot in the world, which helps get as much nudity, crude jokes, and general tastelessness as one could want from the genre. A good 85% of the jokes succeed. However, there are times when the lack of story really does hurt the film. While never coming across as a one-joke, "Saturday Night Live" (or in Lange's case, "MAD TV") sketch kind of movie, Lange and co-writer/director Frank Sebastiano occasionally seem to find themselves in a trap as to what exactly to do with the picture to move it along plot wise. There's a sub-plot involving Artie's love-interest Linda (the very cute Cara Buono, giving the best performance of anyone in the cast) that gives the raunch-fest an unexpected heart, though despite their chemistry, her character and their relationship is never developed strongly enough for me to give it a higher rating. That said, the romance angle works a lot better here than it did in recent R-rated comedies like WEDDING CRASHERS and 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, where it seemed to take the focus away from the main proceedings and in VIRGIN's case, felt extraordinarily fake. BEER LEAGUE is better than both the aforementioned comedies and certainly has more laughs than both combined, but if you aren't a fan of Lange, chances are you'll find yourself disagreeing. For the 18-29 male demographic BEER LEAGUE makes for a great guy flick. 7/10

It's amazing when people get on a website and rip a movie like "Beer League" as if they were expecting "Citizen Kane" when they went to the movies. Beer League involves the heated rivalry between two men's softball teams in New Jersey; Ed's Beer and Swill (featuring Artie Lange, Ralph Macchio and assorted others) and Manganelli Fitness, a four time league champion. After yet another collective trip to the police station following a brawl, it is decided the team with the worst record between the two at season's end will be thrown out of the league. Lange & Company band together and show resolve to reach the title game vs. Manganelli. Guess who wins?

I thought the movie was funny- even hilarious in spots. Beer League never tries to be anything other than what it is; a bawdy comedy with plenty of crude humor, sexual misconduct and vulgarity. Little was required in the acting department, as Lange is essentially playing himself. Fans of his stand-up act and Howard Stern appearances will not be disappointed. There are welcome cameos by Sopranos bit player Frank Pellegrino and series regular Joseph Gannascoli. And Seymour Cassel turns in a great performance as the team's old, foul-mouthed pitcher, Dirt.

Lange's real life drug and alcohol use- parodied and boasted about in nearly everything he does- will hopefully not have tragic consequences as it has for so many others in the world of comedy. This movie works, however, and is good for a few belly laughs along the way.

If I were to say the movie was just OK than you would probably tell me that this is boring review and I don't blame you. But I have to say, seriously though, it was just OK. Not going to be on Roeper's 2006 picks, but good enough for a Sunday afternoon on Showtime. If you go see it, I would recommend this to put you in the right spirit; alcohol and a packed theatre. The movie is funny but not clever. You definitely need a little something to wash it down with. There's a lot of bad herpes jokes, guys calling each other fags, and a painfully bad callback involving a guy vomiting. The jokes are abundant though and for every miss there's a solid hit or two.

My major complaint with the movie is the sense that it was missing something or parts where I felt there was missed opportunity. Every scene seemed to play like the next and I think it would have been cool to see something that was set apart and memorable. For example a fantasy/dream/passout sequence with Artie in a major league game with bikini chicks handing him beers at the plate and one of the Yankee's pitching to him, but it's a softball. I don't know, something like that. If not that, they could of had a really good crazy prank scene somewhere in the half way through to take you away from the main plot for 5 minutes. Along the lines of the horse in the deans office in Animal House, or the police car in American Graffiti. Just something to contrast with Italians tossing around softballs and drinking in a bar.

As for Artie, he was great for the role of "Artie" and after 20 minutes you easy got lost in the character, forgetting the Stern show aspect. Forgetting of course they named the character Artie, gave him a girlfriend who he can't commit to, had him drink too much, smoke too much, and have issues with his father's death. Nice Stretch. Why not give him a Sirius t-shirt?