What goes on in a pitcher's mind as he is in the game?

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2012)

Sam Raimi, who is probably most famous for the Spider-Man films and the Evil Dead films, shows that he can do more than action and horror films with the baseball drama For Love of the Game. He proves that he is a good storyteller.
Kevin Costner stars as Billy Chapel, a pitcher in the nineteenth season of his career, all of it spent with the Detroit Tigers. He is in New York to play the Yankees in a series in what may be the last game of his career.
As he is playing at Yankee Stadium, at many times on and off the pitcher's mound, Chapel flashes back to many moments in his past. The majority of these flashbacks involve Jane Aubrey, Chapel's on-again and off-again girlfriend, played by Kelly Preston. She is a magazine writer who gets offered a job in London. Unfortunately for Billy, her plane leaves for London during his game.
The best parts of this story is the mix of the current game Billy is in and the flashbacks he has. Not sure what he has ahead of him, he is making history with this game against the Yankees.
Costner gives a rich performance as Billy Chapel. To me, his character as a baseball player makes me think of pitchers like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez, all of who I watched pitch when I was a kid. When he is not playing, he does great at taking his memories and later using them in the game. The biggest part of Costner's performance is on thinking about if he should try to keep playing, hanging up his cleats, or go after the woman he loves.
Preston also gives a great performance here as Aubrey. She does a good job of showing Jane as an independent woman, yet also trying to keep a stable relationship with Billy when they are dating. It may seem like the typical girlfriend role, but she is there to support him at his low points and high points of his career.
Also giving a great supporting turn in this film is John C. Reilly as Billy's catcher, Gus Sinski. Both on and off the field, Gus is always looking after Billy, and saying that he's got his back. On what seems like a small role, Reilly knocks it out of the park at being the guy Billy can always turn to, even when he's drunk.
If you enjoy baseball films, this is well worth it. I like to think of this, Field of Dreams, and Bull Durham as a trilogy, even though the only things they have in common are that they are baseball films starring Kevin Costner. If you are not a baseball fan, you should still check this out because it is more than a baseball film.