Fork-in-the-Road Story Gives Way To Sappy Love Story.

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2005)

"For Love of the Game" is the story of one baseball player's final game shown through flashbacks from the meeting of a beautiful woman up to the final game in his career. It is a concept that could have worked if the film had not fallen to the melodrama of its love story. Where it manages to stay afloat is in its portrayal of its principal character, Billy Chapel, played by Kevin Costner.
In one of the opening scenes, Billy is confronted by the team's owner, Mr. Wheeler (Brian Cox.) Wheeler informs Billy that he has sold the team and the new owners want to trade Billy. Since Billy is 40 years old and at the end of a poor season, Wheeler encourages him to retire. Not exactly what Billy wanted to hear on an exceptionally rough morninghis girlfriend Jane (Kelly Preston) never showed up for their dinner date the night before. Soon Jane calls and tells Billy that she is moving to London for a new job and that she can no longer be with him. She tells Billy that all he needs are the ball, the plate and the game to get by.
With that in mind, Billy heads out to the plate in Yankee Stadium to pitch the last game of the season. He throws well but the slightest reminder of the past triggers bittersweet memories, from meeting Jane, the flourishing of their relationship and their ups and downs. Then Billy remembers when he cut his hand in a sawing accident. Thanks to Jane, he manages to get to a hospital and save his hand. But as Billy recovers, he is faced with the notions that he might never throw again. Unwilling to accept this, he pushes Jane away. This is the point in the present that Billy starts to feel the pain in his arm and his throwing becomes a problem.
From the pain his arm, to his regret at loosing Jane, we see Billy struggle to top his career. But he swallows his emotions and pain and remembers the words of his father, "simply play catch, Billy. Just throw the ball." With that, Billy manages to pitch the perfect game. But naturally, one thing is missing, Jane and it all leads to inevitable airport confrontation ending. The problem with this movie is not in poor performances, but rather in the sappiness of its love story. Preston plays Jane as the kind of woman who can make the simplest things complicated, but with a genuine tenderness that cannot be denied. She is quirky but cares for Billy. But as the film goes into a montage of their early years, we see just about every relationship cliché play out. She asks him the foreseeable questions"Do you believe in God? Have you ever gotten your heart broken?" And my favorite, "Do you like the dark meat or the white meat, because the dark meat is the fatty part and it's not good for you." Between the rolling of my eyes and my cringing at the embarrassment of these questions, I could not help but ask myself, shouldn't they have established all of this long before now?
The biggest problem is the ending. The two kiss, and Billy says to Jane that he loves her. Jane responds, "I never believed it." Billy replies, "Believe it." The two kiss some more and fades out. It leaves you with nothing to embrace and the picture becomes instantly forgettable. You simply want to walk away saying, "Well, there it is."
What I do like about the movie is that the central character is faced with a life changing decisionending his career, his life's passion. Baseball is what he loves and he cannot let it go. Ironically enough, director Raimi would bring this same concept up in his excellent film, "Spider-Man 2," five years after "For Love of the Game." As Peter Parker/Spider-Man says, "Sometimes we have to give up the thing we want the most to do what is righteven our dreams." That is a tough decision for any person to make when they are part of something they love and for one reason or another, it has to end. In film, if done correctly, this can make for a powerful storytelling riddled with conflict and ultimate resolution. Unfortunately, that is not done here.
"For Love of the Game" is neither entirely bad, nor entirely good. The concept of facing the fork-in-the-road choices work well, and adding a love story was to be expected. However, the film becomes half chick-flick and half a story about moving on. If it could only find a better balance with improved writing, it could have worked out. **1/2 out of ****