Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Baseball Film Review Extravaganza, where I look at 20 of the most notable sports films of all-time centered around America’s Pastime, baseball. This is the second half of a two-part series, so if you want to check out my reviews of films like The Bad News Bears, Bull Durham, and The Sandlot, click the following link to be directed over to Part 1. But today, we’re discussing 10 more entries in the baseball film genre, including several of the genre’s most recent releases.
ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD (1994)
To start things off today, we have a film that I’m sure many folks of my generation will remember; Disney’s 1994 remake of Angels in the Outfield. Yes, this is a remake of a 1951 film of the same name starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh. That film centered around the hot-headed manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, played by Douglas, who begins to hear the voice of an angel that promises to help his struggling team, effectively answering the prayers of a young orphan girl, if he promises to change his ways. The remake, fittingly enough, focuses on the Los Angeles Angels, who would ironically end up getting bought by Disney a few years later. It’s the same general story. A young Angels fan living in foster care prays to God wishing for the team, who are currently in last place, to win the pennant so that he can be reunited with his estranged father. His prayers are soon answered as he begins to see actual angels appear out of the sky to help the team win. Now, obviously, this premise is a bit ridiculous, especially considering that the original film only alluded to there being ‘angels’ while this one shows them for real. Still, maybe it’s just the nostalgia-happy kid in me, but I think that this film’s harmless. It’s got some great humor in it (e.g. when the fan takes a picture with the Angels’ stubborn manager and everyone else comments that it looks like a prison photo) and an enjoyable ensemble cast that includes Danny Glover as the Angels’ grumpy manager George Knox, Tony Danza as the team’s aging pitcher Mel Clark, and Christopher Lloyd as the ‘leader’ of the angels, Al. There are even some former up-and-comers in this as well, including Matthew McConaughey and Adrien Brody as some of the Angels players and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the young fan, Roger. And it even ended up spawning two direct-to-video sequels; one titled Angels in the Endzone, which shifted the focus from baseball to football, and Angels in the Infield, which returned to baseball but focused solely on one player’s redemption instead of the whole team. But, like The Sandlot, this one still stands as the best of the bunch.
Rating: 4/5
COBB (1994)
Six years after he gave us one of the greatest sports comedies of all-time, director Ron Shelton delved into the more dramatic side of baseball with Cobb, a biopic focusing on legendary ballplayer Ty Cobb. However, those going into this expecting a lot of baseball action will be disappointed as it’s more focused on Cobb’s life after baseball, specifically when he hires sportswriter Al Stump to write his biography. In fact, there’s only one major baseball sequence in the entire film, and it occurs early on in a flashback. Instead, we mainly follow Cobb and Stump on a journey of pure insanity as the latter is conflicted over portraying the former as either the legendary ballplayer that he was… or the grouchy, gun-toting racist that he’s become. Because that’s the thing about Ty Cobb… he’s been commonly regarded as one of the most aggressive players in the game’s history. And in terms of this film, this is translated into some scenes that are rather hard to watch. With that said, though, in the years since Stump’s biography was published, it has been widely deemed as sensationalized fiction, which also basically applies to this film as well given that it’s based on it. Still, even if the stuff that we’re seeing on-screen isn’t exactly true, I will admit that I found the film to be an engaging biopic that’s mainly bolstered by terrific performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Wuhl as Cobb and Stump, respectively. Sure, like I said before, there are some scenes in this film that are quite dark; heck, downright uncomfortable to watch, even. That and I think that the film could’ve benefitted more from having a greater balance in terms of showcasing Cobb’s playing career and his time spent with Stump. Still, for a film that ended up being a box-office flop when it was released in theaters, I think that this is an underrated baseball film about one of the game’s most notorious players.
Rating: 3.5/5
LITTLE BIG LEAGUE (1994)
The last big ‘family-friendly’ baseball film on our list is Little Big League, which was released the same year as Angels in the Outfield. Both these films also happened to be released during a time when the Major Leagues were on strike, therefore providing audiences with baseball action that they weren’t getting in real-life. However, unlike Angels, this film didn’t do so well at the box-office, most likely because it got released around the same time as hits like The Lion King and Forrest Gump. But just like its fellow ‘family-friendly’ baseball films, this still is an enjoyable romp. It centers on Billy Heywood (Luke Edwards), the grandson of the owner of the Minnesota Twins. When the owner passes away, he appoints Billy as the new owner of the franchise. And through an odd turn of events, Billy also ends up becoming the team’s manager as he attempts to help them turn their season around. So, yeah, like Angels and Rookie of the Year, this film’s plot is rather ludicrous given that all three are about a kid who becomes a major force in a professional ballclub’s season. However, also like those films, it’s a good-natured story that can appeal to both kids and adults. I mean, in terms of the latter, I felt that this film had a lot of great humor, like when Billy swears at an umpire for blowing a call. His profanity gets censored by a loud bullhorn and it ends up resulting in his mom grounding/’suspending’ him. If I had any major complaints with this film, it’d be that the part where Billy gets overwhelmed by his responsibilities as a manager, a sequence that’s akin to other ‘low point’ sequences in films like this, was handled rather poorly, in my opinion. This is primarily because Billy becomes a bit too unlikeable during this stretch of the film. Thankfully, though, he eventually snaps out of it and the film gets back on track soon after. Thus, while I’ll admit that I’ve probably watched this film the least out of the three big ‘90’s kid-oriented baseball films’, I feel that Little Big League is just as entertaining as those other films.
Rating: 4/5
FOR LOVE OF THE GAME (1999)
Next up, we have a baseball film directed by… Sam Raimi? Yes, the man who brought us the Evil Dead and original Spider-Man trilogies directed this film, an adaptation of Michael Shaara’s 1991 novel of the same name, centering around his hometown team, the Detroit Tigers. Kevin Costner stars in his third leading role in a baseball film as veteran pitcher Billy Chapel. As his team heads into Yankee Stadium for what is only a throwaway game for them against the Yankees, the aging pitcher finds himself on the verge of accomplishing a rare feat in baseball, a perfect game. Throughout the film, we also see flashbacks that focus on his on-again, off-again romance with writer Jane Aubrey, played by Kelly Preston. Now sure, these flashbacks can sometimes be a bit excessive to the point where they disrupt the film’s pacing, making it about as long as an actual game of baseball. And sure, some of the more serious moments in the film occasionally veer into melodramatic territory. Still, you do end up getting fully invested in Billy’s efforts to pitch the perfect game. Kevin Costner is solid in the lead role as is Kelly Preston, and the two have nice chemistry. They’re backed by a solid supporting cast that includes the likes of Jena Malone as Jane’s daughter Heather, John C. Reilly as Billy’s loyal catcher Gus, and J.K. Simmons as the Tigers’ gruff manager Frank. Plus, it’s clear that Raimi’s a big fan of baseball and, with this film, he’s giving us an old-fashioned story highlighting the greatest elements of America’s Pastime. Heck, I’ll even give this film credit for having arguably some of the best-filmed baseball sequences out of all the films that I’ve reviewed during this retrospective. Thus, while I’m not saying that it’s perfect, For Love of the Game is a solidly entertaining entry in the genre, brought to us by the most unlikely of baseball film directors.
Rating: 4.5/5
SUMMER CATCH (2001)
Stepping away from the big leagues for a moment, we have a romantic comedy, Summer Catch. This film centers around what is arguably the most popular amateur summer league in the country, the Cape Cod Baseball League. Freddie Prinze Jr. stars as Ryan Dunne, a Cape Cod local who joins the Chatham Athletics hoping to do well enough to make it to the major leagues. And during the long summer season, he romances a girl named Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel), the daughter of a wealthy family vacationing on the Cape. As for the film itself, it admittedly didn’t fare so well upon release. It was a flop at the box-office and it has an extremely low Rotten Tomatoes rating of 8%. However, I’ll admit that I found this to be a decently entertaining sports film. Sure, in terms of the film being a comedy, the humor is a bit hit-and-miss. However, I wouldn’t say that the film is completely devoid of funny dialogue. As for the romance part of the plot, it too suffers in a few areas. Though, in this case, it’s more because of some of the usual trappings of the romantic comedy genre, including not one but two big ‘misunderstanding’ moments. Still, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jessica Biel do have nice chemistry with each other. And at the end of the day, it is cool to have a film like this that highlights a world of baseball that’s not often seen on the big screen; literally, the only instances where the CCBL has appeared on film are this and a 2003 documentary named Touching the Game. Thus, while it’s far from perfect, Summer Catch is a perfectly harmless romantic comedy that’s also a nice fit for the season that the first half of this film’s title takes its name from.
Rating: 3.5/5
MR. 3000 (2004)
Next up, we have a baseball film centering around the ‘Brew Crew’ AKA the Milwaukee Brewers. In Mr. 3000, the late Bernie Mac stars as Stan Ross, who was a legendary albeit extremely arrogant player for the team who abruptly retired from the game after reaching the vaunted career milestone of 3,000 hits, effectively leaving his team without their star player in the middle of a pennant race. Years later, Ross has become a local entrepreneur who regularly banks on his nickname of ‘Mr. 3000’ (hence the title). However, he soon learns that, because of a statistical error that counted the hits in a postponed game twice, he only managed to amass 2,997 hits. Thus, he decides to make a comeback, despite his age, to try and legitimately reach 3,000 again and make it into the Hall of Fame. The sight of this older ballplayer trying to return to the game after being away for so many years does provide the film with some good humor, and this, overall, is what makes the film an entertaining, albeit a bit predictable, entry in its genre. Still, despite the occasional predictability of the plot, once the film finds its groove, it doesn’t stop. And it’s all backed by an excellent lead performance by Bernie Mac. Despite his character’s frequent egotistical boasts, Mac is a charismatic lead and has solid romantic chemistry with his co-star, Angela Bassett, who plays an old flame of his who now works for ESPN. Plus, Ross does get a nice arc in this as he learns to become more of a team player to help his team overcome their losing streak. Thus, Mr. 3000 manages to be another solid entry in the baseball film genre, thanks in no small part to its charismatic lead actor who was taken from us way too soon.
Rating: 3.5/5
FEVER PITCH (2005)
A baseball film for the New England faithful, Fever Pitch was a remake of a 1997 British film (which was about football (AKA soccer for us American folks)) and directed by the Farrelly brothers. In this film, a young boy named Ben becomes a massive Red Sox fan thanks to trips to Fenway Park with his uncle, who ends up passing down his season tickets to him after he dies. Years later, Ben (Jimmy Fallon) is a schoolteacher who falls in love with workaholic executive Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore), who slowly but surely begins to understand his obsession with the Sox. And as you might have guessed, this obsession of Ben’s ends up putting a lot of stress on their relationship. Now, of course, being a Farrelly Brothers film, this does have a lot of their trademarks, including some bits of crude humor. However, it does feel like they toned that stuff down quite a bit compared to their other films, instead focusing more on the romance angle of the story. And for what it’s worth, this is a cute little baseball romantic comedy. The key to it all is Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, as they have genuinely sweet chemistry with each other. And while there are a few instances where the film falls into the usual trappings of the genre, the hit-miss ratio is solid and Fallon’s character does go through a solid arc as he learns to re-evaluate his ‘relationship’ with the Sox when it begins to affect his relationship with Lindsey. Plus, it’s also cool how this film ended up being in sync with the Red Sox breaking their 86-year drought in 2004 to win the World Series. Seriously, if they didn’t, then this film would’ve just ended with them losing again. So, in short, I’ll admit that I may be a bit biased towards this one given that I’m a native New Englander, but even if you’re not from the area, Fever Pitch is an appealing little rom-com.
Rating: 4/5
BAD NEWS BEARS (2005)
Wait a minute… didn’t I review this film back in Part 1? Yes, I did… this is the remake. Yes, in 2005, the baseball classic Bad News Bears was reimagined for a modern audience. It was directed by famous indie director Richard Linklater, the man behind classics like Dazed and Confused and School of Rock. But, even with those credentials, the film fared poorly with critics upon release, and to be perfectly frank… they weren’t too far off. Ultimately, the major issue with this remake is that it’s too faithful of a remake to the original film. It literally has the same exact plot, the same main characters, and even the same implementation of music from the opera Carmen as the original. The only major changes here are cosmetic at best, from Buttermaker being an exterminator instead of a pool cleaner to Toby Whitewood’s mother being the one who convinces the league to let the ‘lesser’ players participate instead of his father. And because of this, I can see why many have argued that this film lacks the heart of the original. Now, with that said, I don’t think that it’s ‘all bad’; there are some funny line deliveries here and there and Billy Bob Thornton is a solid pick for the role of Buttermaker. And heck, if anyone was going to remake Bad News Bears, Richard Linklater was at least a solid pick for that role. However, this just ends up being a mediocre remake. Now, I’m not going to question the necessity to remake the original Bad News Bears like I know a lot of others have done. Still, I must ask… if you are going to remake a film like this, why didn’t you ‘remake’ it? And by that, I mean to do something different without sacrificing the spirit of the original. Because aside from the few cosmetic changes that I mentioned earlier, this is practically like the 1998 remake of Psycho; nothing more than a carbon copy of its predecessor.
Rating: 1.5/5 (Also, I just noticed that this is the first time that I’ve given a negative review during this entire retrospective.)
MONEYBALL (2011)
Moneyball is a different kind of baseball film, as it focuses more on the behind-the-scenes action than it does the on-field play. Based on the 2003 best-selling book of the same name by Michael Lewis, Moneyball tells the true story of former Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt). In 2002, Beane is tasked with rebuilding the team after several of their biggest stars sign with other teams. Unfortunately, for the A’s, they have one of the worst budgets in the entire league, especially when compared to the big ballclubs like the Yankees who out-gross them by over $100 million. In other words, Beane and his team are unable to go after any big stars. However, with the aid of a newly recruited assistant from the Cleveland Indians, Beane decides to go after players with reliable stats instead of those who are big-name stars. Obviously, this idea, known as the ‘sabermetric’ approach (which was made famous by writer Bill James), is received horribly by several veteran scouts. However, it ends up working for the team that season, as mainly highlighted by an impressive 20-game win streak. And then, as the closing credits note, the Boston Red Sox would go on to win the World Series two years later by using the same approach (there’s even a scene where Beane is given the offer to become the Red Sox’s general manager). As for the film itself, as implied earlier, it’s more dialogue-based than it is about baseball. This may or may not turn some people off, especially considering the film’s hefty run-time of about two hours and ten minutes.
This was sort of the same situation with director Bennett Miller’s other big sports-themed film, 2014’s Foxcatcher. In both these films, Miller focuses more on the human aspect of their true stories than he does with the sports side of them. Thus, while I’ll admit that I found Moneyball to be a tad bit underwhelming the first time I saw it back in 2011, I can also say that I have warmed up to it to more upon re-watch. Miller and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (yes, folks, this is also notably a Sorkin project as he was brought in to rewrite the screenplay) give the film a nice edge with its witty dialogue but also infuse it with a strong emotional core that’s based primarily around its layered main protagonist. Brad Pitt does an excellent job in the role of Billy Beane. He manages to perfectly convey Beane’s tenacity and his urge to win, the latter of which is well-reflected by flashbacks showcasing his unsuccessful playing career. Jonah Hill is also great in the role of Beane’s new assistant, the shy economics graduate Peter Brand, who’s a composite character based on Beane’s real assistant Paul DePodesta. The role ended up earning Hill his first ever Oscar nomination. These two are then backed by some excellent supporting roles from the likes of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the A’s frustrated manager Art Howe, and Chris Pratt as the team’s newly repurposed first baseman Scott Hatteberg. All this, paired alongside gorgeous cinematography from longtime Christopher Nolan collaborator Wally Pfister, makes Moneyball a smart but all-around engaging baseball drama. Heck, I bet that this may even be one of those instances of a baseball film that can manage to win over those who aren’t big on ‘America’s Pastime’.
Rating: 4.5/5
42 (2013)
And finally, we conclude this epic review extravaganza with a biopic of not only one of the most famous players in the game’s history, but arguably the most important; yes, we’re talking about the one and only Jackie Robinson. In 1947, he became the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Amidst all the racism and death threats that he received on a regular basis, he endured it all to become one of baseball’s greatest icons. There’s a good reason why his number, 42, is the only number that has been retired across the entire Major League. Notably, though, this isn’t the first time that a film about Jackie Robinson has been made; back in 1950, Robinson himself starred in a biopic titled The Jackie Robinson Story. As for 42, Chadwick Boseman stars in the role of Robinson, which is the first of what is currently three instances where Boseman has played a major African-American historical figure. The other two instances are 2014’s Get on Up, where he played the ‘Godfather of Soul’ himself, James Brown, and this year’s Marshall, where he’ll play Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. And he does a terrific job in this film as Jackie Robinson. He’s incredibly charismatic but also admirably courageous in the face of extreme prejudice. He’s backed by some excellent supporting roles from the likes of Harrison Ford (even if his performance does lean a bit on the campier side) as the Dodgers’ forward-thinking owner Branch Rickey, Andre Holland as one of Jackie’s key supporters, writer Wendell Smith, Lucas Black as one of Robinson’s most supportive teammates Pee Wee Reese, and Nicole Beharie as Jackie’s loving and supportive wife Rachel.
Technically speaking, the film is well-made. The cinematography by Don Burgess is excellent and the film handles its baseball scenes incredibly well. The only thing holding this film back, really, is that, as many others have pointed out, its overall approach to the story is a bit too safe. While some of the darker elements of Jackie’s struggle with the racism of the era are mentioned, like all the death threats that he and his family received, those are admittedly more like CliffsNotes to the larger story that is Jackie’s teammates gradually accepting him as one of their own. While I haven’t seen The Jackie Robinson Story, I have the feeling that it was much more focused on the grimmer aspects of Jackie’s story. Here, though, it’s more of a traditional Hollywood biopic with a few moments that can be a bit corny. Still, despite not fully delving into all the details of Jackie Robinson’s story, the film does still get its message across of how big of an impact Robinson had being the first African-American player in the Major Leagues. It does this primarily by showcasing how Robinson really had to stay composed in the face of all the racism directed his way. Because, after all, if he had ever lashed out against it, he would’ve been blamed instead of his aggressors. In short, yes 42 sometimes sugar coats aspects of its true story. And, yes, it could’ve benefitted heavily from focusing more on Robinson’s plights. Still, director Brian Helgeland does do a solid job of making us root for Robinson as he overcomes all his problems to become a hero to all the African-American players who soon followed in his footsteps.
Rating: 4.5/5
And that’s the end of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s two-part Baseball Film Review Extravaganza. I’d like to thank you, folks, for following along with me on this crazy journey through the various baseball films that we’ve gotten over the past few decades. Be sure to sound off in the comments section below with your own favorite baseball films. Also, if you’re wondering if I’ll ever do this again for another sport, like football or basketball… maybe… we’ll see… Until then, as the closing credits song of 42 proclaims, ‘life is a ball game’!
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