Like "Bull..." and "Field..." for better and for worse

Rating: 7/10 (30 August 2010)

This is Costner's third film about baseball that is not about baseball. "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams" were not films about baseball either. These are films about life for which baseball is simply a staging area.
I don't think most people could possibly understand that many, though not all, of the people who are really competent at a sport that's as mental as baseball are just really, competent =people=. Billy Chapel is one of them.
Billy wins game after game and strikes out batter after batter because he understands the competition and because he is totally =committed= to his role in it. He also know's people's limitations and =that= their limitations are the simple results of the common cultural beliefs.
Like his trainer, Jane is no dummy; she's creative, capable and competent. But she is also "common." She believes the common cultural beliefs. "I am not good enough." "He is what he is (what I project him to be). I am what I am (not good enough)." On a very good day, less than five percent of the people think like Billy. On a good day no =less= than 95 percent of the people think like Jane.
=I= would find it very effortful to "love" a woman like Jane. But Billy understands and does the best he can with her. How it'll turn out in the long run is anyone's guess.
All three films in Costner's baseball trilogy are of the culture, as well. They suffer from the same American cultural unwillingness to tolerate unresolved conflicts.