what the...?

Rating: 1/10 (23 April 2006)

I've avoided this film for years, because I'm no sports fan, but over the years I've read about it, heard it quoted and cited as a film even for people who don't like sports, so last night -- in the mood for a piece of light comedy romance -- I sat down and watched it.
Holy cow, what an experience. There were, I admit, some comic highlights and good lines, but for the most part all that I had throughout were questions: Who ARE these people? What are they TALKING about? What's at stake, here? What an EARTH is Susan Sarandon's character supposed to be? What does she DO? Why is she HERE? What is the damned POINT of all this? Why is Miss Sarandon -- an actress I've loved since I first saw her in "Atlantic City" -- so spectacularly bad in this film, popping her eyes and going so over the top it's as if she's engaged in long-distance Tennessee Williams competition? And...what the hell was the point of the character of Tim Robbins' dad? And, finally: when is this going to end?
Sure, I live in the UK, but I spent 13 years in the States, so I have some basic knowledge of baseball, but even I was completely baffled by what was going on. There was nothing here to connect to any aspect of real life, no real human motivation outside of the scriptwriter's manipulation of his characters for whatever his reasons were.
As I said, there were parts that did make me laugh out loud, and I certainly liked Tim Robbins and even, up to a point, Kevin Costner (wildly uneven, though -- check out his couple of lines to Robbins when the latter wakes up from his nightmare on the bus. Was Costner struck over the head with a baseball bat before the cameras rolled?) but on the whole, this seemed like a long, pointless exercise in...well, I can't even say for sure. But, one thing I can say is that I was very, very disappointed, and whatever appeal this film seems to have had completely eluded me.