Beer League

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.

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

I suppose Artie Lange can be funny at times. It took me a long time to accept him on Howard's show. I wasn't a big fan of Jackie, and it seemed to me that hiring Artie was a step down even then. I thought he had the most annoying laugh, and he was crude and sloppy. I kinda sorta warmed up to Artie after a bit, he said some funny things on the show now and again. I even lol'd when he told his "Bowel Movement" story during the last few weeks of Howard's terrestrial radio tenure. However, I definitely wouldn't consider myself a huge fan.

Now, after seeing this movie, my opinion of Artie has just dropped about 100 levels. This movie is so bad. There were numerous scenes that made me cringe, especially anything that pertained to sex and bodily functions. Oh wait! That would be the entire movie! The plot of this movie is nothing new. How many times can you make the same movie? The "underdog losers" cannot stand the humiliation...decide it's time to win win win!!!! (blahblahblahblah) The dialogue is crude, foul and obnoxious. I can only think of one or two lines that actually made me laugh audibly. Otherwise it was a ridiculous insult to my intelligence. My eyeballs hurt like hell afterward from rolling them so many times.

I love stupid humor. Most of my favorite movies are stupid movies. Having said that, I don't think this movie can even come close to the level of 'stupidy' I have ever witnessed in any any other movie in my entire life. 'Mentally challenged', perhaps!?!?! Thank goodness I got to see it for free! I would have hated myself if I'd actually donated my hard earned money to Artie's coke & Jack habits to watch that garbage.

Oh and by the way, the more popular Italian foods aren't pronounced "gobigole", "galamade", and "mooootzarelle". Say any of those "words" to a real Italian and you'd get slapped like a biatch.

I recommend that you see this movie if you're a bloated, unintelligent, couch-potato, beer-swilling, mid-life crisis case.

It's no Gone with the Wind, but I seriously hardly stopped laughing the entire movie!!! Artie is hilarious, and even the Karate Kid turns in an amusing performance. The best comedy I've seen this year. More genuinely funny moments than Talledaga Nights and Click combined!!! The old dude Seymore Cassel steals nearly every scene he's in and is hilarious. Artie really kills playing a character very similar to himself. No need to be a Stern fan to see this movie. Artie steps out of the shadow of the big guy with an incredibly funny and sincere performance. If you want to laugh you butt off this is the movie to see!!!

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