Clichéd and overly-sentimental but works much better in the afternoon daytime TV slot than it did in the cinema

Rating: Null/10 (6 June 2005)

At age 40 Billy Chapel has a strong baseball career behind him as a Detroit Tiger and he still believes he can continue for a few more years of playing, even though he is not at his best and his shoulder is aching. On the day before the last game of the season Chapel learns that his one-time lover Jane Aubrey is leaving to go to London and the owner of the Tigers has sold them to a consortium that seek to trade Chapel to another team. Retirement seems the best option for him but he does love the game and doesn't feel ready to give it up just yet. These things weigh on his mind as he pitches against the Yankees and he thinks back over the career and life he has had up till this point.
Short of adding another hour to the running time, you really couldn't lay the clichés any thicker on this film  even the opening credits are the formulaic mix of home movies and sentimental memories. If you can accept that, then you still have another obstacle to get passed  sentimentality. The whole two hours plus are spent wallowing in sentimentality in regards the present game, memories of baseball, memories of relationships and any other way it can wallow. For the majority it is very cloying but at times it shows what it could have done if it had managed to avoid these problem; occasionally the baseball game is enjoyable, occasionally the characters are realistic and their relationship interesting and engaging, occasionally the film isn't plodding. Occasionally. Sadly for the rest of it, the film does very little.
The plot jumps between Billy's memories, meaning that they exist as fragmented parts of a story  making them feel even more clichéd than they already were and preventing us seeing the characters develop over the time. This still could have almost worked if the film had avoided painting the whole thing with sentimentality but it doesn't; instead it runs deep through the film be it via the music used, the dialogue, the little speeches on the mound, lots of little things. Sadly it doesn't and it turns this Hollywood sports movie into the type of sentimental melodrama that clutters up the daytime TV schedules  in fact this film had its UK television premier on a Saturday lunchtime. It is a classy daytime melodrama but it is a soapy melodrama nevertheless. Seeing that the director was Sam Rami, I was a bit surprised but then I suppose that this genre is hardly his forte.
The cast can barely rise above the material although Costner comes the closest, hardly surprising since he has done this sort of role several times before. He is grizzled, does a far-off stare when he has to remember things and does look at home on the mound. He still can't do much in the face of so much sentimentality and he cannot carry the clunky lines he has to say, but he is good if you like him (although many people seem to dislike him). Preston is pretty poor and I think it is because her character is supposed to be a "normal" person and she can't do that. Reilly, Cox and Simmons make the support feel classy but none of them actually have anything to do. The cast might also have some real players, commentators etc but, like the vast majority of the world, I don't know any baseball celebrities and have no real interest.
Overall this is a daytime television melodrama dressed up in expensive Hollywood clothes. Although it is quite enjoyable on this level, the plot is overflowing with clichés and the film is scripted, directed, scored and acted with sentimentality flowing from every pore. The end result is an average sports film that will be enjoyed by those seeking a cheesy melodrama but not many others.