Too long, but I loved it

Rating: Null/10 (1 May 2000)

As a complete sucker for baseball movies (the game is so inherently dramatic), I loved this film. It was a real weepie for boys, with no heartstring untugged. It is too long by half an hour, and the structure doesn't help--when you are starting to tire, and you know that the game still has three innings to go, the movie seems longer. Moreover, too many loose ends are tied: the dud fielder has to make the dramatic catch, the dud catcher has to hit the important run, the heroine has to delay her flight--there is this certain grim inevitability in the story. So what a dud flick! And how much I loved it! For positives, Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston and J.C. Reilly perform splendidly; the bit players, like the underutilised Brian Cox are all good; the camera work and especially the sound are great (the loneliness of the long-distance pitcher is cleverly evoked by use of silence); and the film taps into the mythic quality of baseball, with all the history and sentiment that makes grown men cry. I can understand bad reviews for this one, but I am looking forward to seeing it again.