Major League II

"Wild Thing" Ricky Vaughn ("Winning" Sheen) returns in this hilarious sequel to the highly acclaimed original. That's right, I said "hilarious" and there is no sarcasm in my voice. I saw this in the theater and from then on I will watch it anytime it is on as I did last night. I really think the decision Wesley Snipes made back in 1994 to not return to his role as Willie Mays Hayes is why he is going to prison. Bad decisions will mess up the rest of your life. He is replaced by an unknown named Omar Epps. Now he is very known because he was WMH. Nuff said. Tom Berenger returns, as does Corbin Bernson and 24's David Palmer, Dennis Haysbert, returns as super smacker Cerrano. In this new movie he has replaced his god Jobu with Buddha, which in turn replaces his homers with pop ups. Once again the Cleveland Indians suck and though they were in the World Series the previous year, the fight in them is all but gone. With nearly 100% of the all star cast returning, none are so memorable as season ticket holder, Indian lifer Randy Quaid. He taunts of the Wild Thing are awesome, but even better than him is the booth announce played by the legendary Bob Uecker who coined the most often quoted line used in ballparks these days... "JUUUUST a bit outside." and my favorite..."Ball 4, Ball 8, Ball 12." His zingers are brilliant and he is always drinking which makes it funnier. This time the team of old is replaced by a bunch of prima donnas who think they don't need to work hard anymore. Once again the team is in peril of being moved and disassembled. This doesn't seem to matter this time around, but the health of their coach Lou gives them the motivation to win one for the gipper. One more thing the sequel didn't bring back was the "R" rating. I do thing bad language can enhance a film's humor, but even with a PG-13, this does a great job. The new addition is the catcher/country boy, Rube. He provides a lot of the comic relief. Can you have comic relief in a comedy? He also has words of wisdom that don't make sense, but somehow they work to inspire. He is a brilliant catcher who cannot get the ball back to the pitcher which is a problem. The way interim coach Jake Taylor (Berenger) gets his mind right is hysterical. And then we have Dorn (Bernson) returning as his same prick self who has passed his prime, but still wants to play, even though he is now General Manager of the team. Seems like a conflict of interest to me, but it is very funny when he tries to use that title to get on the field. Like I said, it is a really solid sequel and I'm sure you will enjoy it, if you haven't already.


NBM rates Major League II - Awesome