Enjoyable film if not totally successful

Rating: Null/10 (3 August 2003)

The Durham Bulls are a minor league baseball team who draft in a rookie pitcher who has an arm that holds promise for the majors, sadly his powerful arm lacks finesse. The team bring in veteran catcher Crash Davis to coach him, while rookie `Nuke' LaLoosh is also taken on by Annie Savoy, who makes it a habit to seduce one player a season. However Crash also has an eye for Annie.
It has been a few years since I lasted watched this film and, partly due to the age I was when it came out, I have always had the idea in my head that it is a `great film'. This idea is not totally unfounded as the film is pretty enjoyable although falling far from being brilliant. What makes it stand out for me is the amusing mix of romance and baseball  both parts being done pretty well. Working best is the sports movie which is affectionate and nostalgic towards America's minor leagues and the men who play all their lives in them. The romantic side doesn't work quite as well and only is given free reign in the final 15 minutes. Annie's babbling of Whitman and astro-physics is a little of a turn off for me and I found it harder to care about the romance as a result.
The relationship between the two men is stronger though and makes for an more enjoyable dynamic around the baseball diamond. Although the romantic side is a little weaker, it is hard to imagine the film with one or other of the strands missing and the two give the film an unique spin.
The cast is good all round. Costner (for he was once great) has an easy charm as Crash which belies the fact that several lines of his dialogue are awfully cheesy. Robbins looks so very different viewed with an eye for his present incarnation, but he is pretty good. However it is harder to buy his dumb-kid routine when we know him to be a much smarter man  and his supposed `unequal' relationship with Sarandon seems more likely now that he's with her in real life. Sarandon is OK but I didn't like her character. She is sexy but I never understood totally what a woman with such intelligence would be sleeping with baseball players for  even if she is a big fan. Some of her lines are poor too, and she sounds like she's just been given big words to say.
Overall this is an enjoyable movie but certainly not a great film as either a romance or a sports movie. Costner is on good form and the baseball banter is good fun even for those who think it's just a fancy version of rounders.