the character of Annie is a self-righteous manipulative whore

Rating: 3/10 (15 August 2005)

I am not here to dispute the "baseball as religion" concept or to criticize the way in which the game was portrayed. I believe Ron Shelton wrote a screenplay based upon his experiences in the minor leagues and feel the balance between baseball as a fun game and as a business/job were overall solid.
Here's my main problem with the film -- the character of Annie is ultimately a self-righteous manipulative whore. While Susan Sarandon is a talented actress, I don't feel her character portrayed passionate fans of baseball in a positive light. I did appreciate that by the end of the film she was going to retire from her life of bedroom spring training, but her character lacked one of two things: either she was too stupid to be the literary scholar she proposed herself to be, or she was too smart to be the baseball tramp she reveled in. I find it hard to believe that her "screw a ballplayer" mentality was anything less than self-righteous notches in the bedpost so she could pat herself on the back later. She used the ballplayers for sport and fun (as Kevin Costner's character noted) as men she could control and bully. A comparable male character would be vilified for years as a sexual predator and masochistic abuser, yet we are supposed to laugh when it's done as a woman? Kevin Costner gave a solid performance as the wise, end of career catcher, but the friendships he appeared to have gained in the sport over the years were rarely displayed.
The character Tim Robbins portrayed was basically a dumb, albeit talented, jock. He wasn't smart enough to know he was being used and was essentially a cardboard cutout of a novice player with talent but no brains. Considering the rest of the players got very little screen time, it's hard to comment on them except for the religious ballplayer who married Susan Sarandon's slut-in-training. I can accept it as an unlikely scenario in a comedy, but it's the only male/female relationship I could allow to slide by since the woman wasn't developed as a character very fully.
Overall, I found the game of baseball handled in a good and serious manner befitting the thousands of players currently working in the minor leagues but the portrayal of Annie as a savior and helper of one player per season was despicable via her manipulative use of sex and need for control. Having said that, I'm glad that in Ron Shelton's future films (particularly Tin Cup) he was able to address the complications of the professional athlete's psyche via the use of professional help (Rene Russo's character). Bull Durham ultimately was an exercise in how a self-righteous controlling nymphomaniac baseball fan gets her jollies. How is that entertaining as the cornerstone of a film? Based upon her character, I am unable to recommend this film.