A Love/Hate Relationship

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2006)

That's how I feel about this movie. Costner (I'm NOT a Costner fan) takes it so close to schmaltz so many times in so many movies and then actually crosses the line into overdone enough times for me. But he does have a certain charm in some situations, portions of this included. I think Kelly Preston is a fine actress and beautiful in a very natural way, but I'm not buying the Costner/Preston thing in the least. Unfortunately, this movie is chick flick first with baseball a pretty close second. For me the romantic ups and downs are almost physically painful to watch. But the baseball concept is so great and so well done - the old warhorse coming out and throwing one last heroic game - that I am willing to skip or zone through the relationship dreck (it worked to DVR it and zoom through the bad stuff). Reminiscent in its own way of Seaver's 300th win, a truly great sports moment. The always urbane Vin Scully sets the mood perfectly along with a fine musical score, and there are times when I really get choked up. The last two innings of the game are about as good as it gets in sports movies, I mean it. A qualified thumbs-up, just wish they would have reordered their priorities.