Sentimental love story misses all three strikes

Rating: 6/10 (15 June 2005)

Sam Raimi has made something of a name for himself in modern cinema for his comic book styled movies. The Evil Dead Trilogy was, of course, his first masterpiece; but other good comic book styled movies in his oeuvre include Darkman, The Quick and the Dead and more recently, the Spider-Man films. For some reason, he decided to make a shift from comic book to drama in 1998, with the excellent thriller A Simple Plan. I'd have been happy for him to go back to what he does best after that, but he wasn't - and he went on to make this film. For Love of the Game is a film that mixes sporting action and romance, and tries to parallel to the two through it's central character, played by Kevin Costner. Simply put, the film doesn't manage to do what it sets out to do. The romance and Costner's love for the game are no doubt touching, but the film lacks the fundamental element of inspiring feeling for the characters from the audience, and this is why it falls down. This sort of film only works if you can tap into the character's thoughts and feelings; and the screenplay for this movie ensures that you cannot.
As this movie stars Kevin Costner, it is very cheesy. Most movies with Costner in them work in spite of him, but since this movie doesn't work anyway; his presence doesn't hinder it. I'm still unsure as to why he continues to get roles, however; he's so false it's impossible to do anything but snigger when he's on screen. This film features many moments of cheese - especially the ending - so Costner is right at home here. An awfully sentimental musical score runs throughout the movie as well, which again hinders it. The characters on display are largely cold, and it's hard to feel for them because of this. None of them develop and the messy way that the film is plotted doesn't help matters either, and as we continually jump into moments of the protagonist's past, we become less connected with his plight rather than more so as it should be. The worst thing about this movie is the final thirty minutes. To say that they drag would be a vast understatement, and this mixed with far too much fake sentiment make it a very painful climax. Don't get me wrong, this film isn't a total dead loss as some of the scenes and ideas are good; but there isn't enough 'good' to ensure that the finished piece is such.