A Great, Entertaining Film

Rating: 8/10 (24 March 2005)

I mention spoilers to be safe, but my references to possible spoilers are very general and vague, so don't really give much away.
I'm not even remotely a baseball fan, yet I really like and appreciate this film. I can still appreciate this theme in the movie and how this film develops it. It does a great job at conveying the love people have for the sport, and at presenting a fun, sensitive, convincing comedy/drama about things which baseball players and fans supposedly dream about or hold dear.
One of the other real strengths of this film is that, unlike a lot of sports movies, it is really about the characters and their development rather than about their team, a "big game," etc. This makes the film more meaningful, gives it much more depth, and provides a broader appeal to non-sports fans like me. The real core of this film is not how players come together to bring the team through, etc., but how the characters address their personal issues. The characters are strong and mostly convincing, the result of a strong screenplay and good acting, and they undergo meaningful development addressing their specific issues. This development is also not formulaic or predictable, with the result for each being at least somewhat mixed, and all the more convincing and poignant as a result.
I shall add that, apparently like many, I have mixed opinions about Kevin Costner and find many of his later films and roles to be mediocre or worse, and giving the impression of an inflated ego. However, he does very well here and he fits this film and his character perfectly. This is definitely one of his best films and best performances, probably only inferior to his truly great role as Ness in the Untouchables. The latter was the first time I had seen him and I loved him in that movie. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions he pretty much went down hill after that. This film is definitely one of the exceptions, so one should not avoid it just because one may have been turned off by Costner in other films.
There are also some quite humorous parts of the film, which help keep a lighthearted tone. Like most of the film, these are handled quite well, and can be quite witty and intelligent.
This is, all round, a very solid, and entertaining comedy/drama which is not by-the-numbers and which achieves its aims quite well.