Even when you don't know anything about baseball, this movie is worth a watch

Rating: 7/10 (21 March 2005)

I know that baseball is one of the most popular sports in the USA, but it certainly isn't in Europe. Most of us have never seen a game on the TV or in a stadium and I'm sure that most of us don't know anything about it. This is of course a great problem for a movie that has a baseball player and the events in his life as its main storyline. Many Americans will love this movie anyway, but it is a lot harder to get it sold to the Europeans if the story and the acting aren't excellent.
The good thing about this movie is that it isn't just based on the sport itself, but that it also has a romance to offer for those who don't know anything about baseball. Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is at the end of his career and he has to decide whether he will keep playing, but for another team, and risking to loose the woman he loves or stop his career and save his love life. What should he do? Choose the game that influenced his entire life or the woman he loves? In the meantime he recollects all the memories of how he once met her, their first date, the happy times, the miscommunication and all other things that once happened between them.
The movie on itself is OK, without really excelling and the same could be said about the performances of the different actors. They didn't do something wrong, but I've seen some better acting before. All in all this is a decent movie with a decent story and good acting, but without a very good character study. Nevertheless this is still a movie that is worth a watch and that's why I give it a 7/10.