Beer League Commentary

When you see that Artie Lange produced a comedy about beer league softball starring himself and Ralph Macchio, you pretty much know what you're going to get.  Then, when you put the DVD in and the rating comes up as R for constant foul language, nudity, drug use etc., you're convinced that you're in for an 87 minute "classic."  And, if that's what you want, this movie doesn't disappoint.  If that isn't what you want, why would you even pick up the DVD?

Yes, Beer League delivers everything it promises.  It aims to entertain the viewer through offensive humour, wackiness from the characters and the triumph of an "everyman" over the inexplicably successful jerk villain.  Because it's 87 minutes long, you don't get sick of the over the top nature of the film.  The story moves fast because it has to.  And, even though you are inundated with crude joke after crude joke, it isn't too much.  The acting is downright terrible from everyone involved.  But that's to be expected.  It stars Artie Lange after all.  But the movie is actually quite well written for what it is.  There is a balanced mixture of the over the top jokes with the subtle observational/explanatory humour that we saw in Dirty Work from Lange and Norm MacDonald.  This could have easily been Dirty Work's Black Sheep.

Production wise, everything is average.  There was really nothing that would stand out as great but also nothing that would stand out as poor or sloppy.  Beer League is ultimately boiled down to one thing: a movie that is not to be taken seriously in any way.  You're supposed to just sit back, turn your brain off and laugh for a while.  And it makes you do that.  If that's what you want, see it.