It's been nearly a decade since I last saw the original "Major League" (1989) and while I don't remember many details about it, I do recall that it was a goofy, but occasionally funny baseball flick. I also remember that it had a decent cast that included Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes, and Rene Russo, among others. While certainly not a great film, it was passable entertainment and made nearly $50 million at the domestic box office.
Five years later, the inevitable, but somewhat late sequel arrived in the form of "Major League II." While I'll admit that I don't recall even seeing the film (if I did, it didn't leave much of an impression), I do know that the more talented of the performers -- specifically Russo and Snipes -- did not return despite the fact that many of their other companions did for their sophomore "season." Not as successful as the original, the sequel grossed around $30 million domestically.
All of which brings us, now four years later, to the second sequel, "Major League: Back To The Minors." While Warner Brothers may be trying to make the latest entry in the series fresh by ignoring the numeral "III," "3" or "Three" in the title, the fact that the studio didn't screen this for the press and the absence of Sheen and Berenger do not bode well for any sort of financial, let alone critical success.
Feeling incredibly longer than its less than 1:45 run time, the film offers absolutely nothing new to the baseball genre. There's the stereotypical over-the-hill manager who finds himself coaching a group of misfits who eventually become quite good and make it to the last big game where, surprise, surprise, they win in the bottom of the ninth inning. At least that doesn't occur in the last game of a championship series (as is so often the case), but the fact that it's an exhibition pairing gives the conclusion even less of what little dramatic flair it might have possessed.
The baseball scenes are uninspired (and even look like they're using a computerized baseball many times) and the attempts at comedy fall flat and strike out not once, twice, or three times, but throughout the whole production. Real-life announcer and beer commercial star Bob Uecker is given some of the worst material feigning to be comedy that we've seen in some time (referring to a player's ability to catch a ball: "I've seen better hands on a clock"), and other moments -- such as using English subtitles for a Japanese player who's speaking completely intelligible English -- will either dumbfound or insult the audience.
Scott Bakula ("Necessary Roughness," TV's "Quantum Leap") appears to be playing his stereotypical role by uninspired rote, Corbin Bernsen (TV's "L.A. Law" and the other "Major League" movies) delivers a flat performance, Jensen Daggett (of the TV show "The Single Guy" and used as Gus' girlfriend) shows up just as pretty eye candy, and Ted McGinely (TV's "Married With Children") plays the standard issue buffoon and does about as well as he did on his previous TV show.
Writer/director John Warren (writer and director of the little -- if ever -- seen "The Curse Of The Inferno" with Pauly Shore and Janine Tuner) should -- if he still has his wits about him -- distance himself as far from this dud as possible. Feeling and playing out more like a cable TV movie or a straight-to-video flick, it's surprising this one ever made it onto the big screen, but don't expect it to last very long. We give "Major League: Back To The Minors" a 1 out of 10.