I'm not sure Sony executives didn't have this planned all along.

Sony Pictures pretty much went out of its way to make sure critics didn't get to see its loser-sports comedy "The Benchwarmers" in time for opening-day reviews.

That is, except Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel, who attended what was possibly the only early promotional screening for the movie held anywhere in the country.

Moore then wrote up his review, which was picked up by a wire service and published in newspapers around the country (including the Deseret Morning News).

However, before the review ran, studio officials began a smear campaign against Moore and his newspaper, saying that he had used duplicitous means to see the film early.

Not true.

As it turns out, Sony simply forgot to cancel a previously scheduled screening to which Moore had been invited.

Still, the resulting flap over the lack of screenings and the Moore controversy gave Sony more written about the film than it would normally have received.

Not that it helped.

"The Benchwarmers" made a lukewarm $19.7 million in its first three days, which really isn't impressive when you consider its competition.

SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT. Studios have been refusing to pre-screen quite a few films for critics this year, and Sony has been one of the biggest culprits.

"Underworld: Evolution" and "Ultraviolet" both opened without screenings. And next week's "Silent Hill" will be screened the Thursday night before it opens, ensuring that deadlines cannot be met for Friday-morning papers.

Basically, the studio is pre-reviewing these movies for critics. Films that aren't shown for review purposes rarely, if ever, turn out to be worthwhile.

HEY, ROB! YOU'RE SHORT! "The Benchwarmers" is the second film this year not to be screened that features Rob Schneider and David Spade, who also had bit parts in "Grandma's Boy."

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Schneider has an almost pathological hatred for movie critics, particularly the venerable Roger Ebert, about whom he's made several unkind remarks. But that doesn't make Schneider's movies any better.

JON, YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS. After Moore's review of "The Benchwarmers" ran in the Deseret Morning News, I did catch up with the film. And I couldn't agree more with his one-star assessment.

It's particularly disheartening to see Brigham Young University graduate Jon Heder acting so one-note. His character in the film is basically the same doofus he played in "Napoleon Dynamite," though he spends most of this film with his finger up his nose.


E-mail: jeff@desnews.com

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