A bit overdone, but surprisingly good

Rating: 8/10 (11 March 2002)

Frankly, Kevin Costner isn't one of my favorites. I liked "No Way Out", "Field of Dreams" and a couple of his other outings; and although I loved "Dances With Wolves", I found his acting to be one of the weaker points of the movie.
But Costner is nonetheless good at baseball movies, and Sam Raimi is a great director, so some good had to come out of it. And it did.
Sure, it's long and drawn out at times - but so was "The Natural" (and so is baseball itself, for that matter). And it's emotionally overwrought at times, but then so was "Field of Dreams". Still, I found the balance of love story and baseball movie more satisfying than I expected. Costner is a little too much of a jerk at times, and Kelly Preston is a way too forgiving of his faults, but the emotions are realistic enough otherwise.
It is hard to categorize though - with elements of both a typical "guy movie" (almost incomprehensible love of sports) and "chick flick" (love story, realistic emotionalism and hurt feelings), it's hard to pin down into one genre. But no matter where it belongs, I still find myself watching it whenever it's on cable. Score: 8/10.