You Had Me At Baseball...

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2003)

Perhaps I'm biased being originally from Detroit and hating the Yankees. And, adding that "Field of Dreams" is my favorite movie of all time to the mix and you have a recipe for a very positive, biased review of "For the Love of the Game."
While I do see its flaws, "For the Love of the Game," stands out in my mind as one of the greatest baseball movies ever made. The love story is extremely distracting and obviously meant to appeal to the "Jerry Maguire" crowd but even in this, there are moments of intense emotion when the Kevin Costner character is injured and has to choose between concentrating on rehabilitation or the woman he loves.
But, taking out a contrite love story with a predictable ending, the scenes in this movie involving the actual games of baseball are some of the best ever filmed. There's realism to the game rarely seen (although any baseball fan will be slightly aggravated by the constant three-pitch strikeout so often seen in Hollywood). I turned off this movie thinking that it had the best technical advisor I had ever seen.
The story is that of an aging baseball player and the decisions he has to go through during the course of trying to pitch in his penultimate game. And, this is where the greatness of the movie lies.
This is a classic person v. self conflict that so few movies rely on since the advent of special effects (in which the idea of Hollywood drama is a perfectly choreographed person v. person gunfight or argument). The only time a person v. person conflict is brought in is in back story.
You're able to get inside the mind of the protagonist through his trying to accomplish the rarest feat in baseball - the perfect game. And, baseball situations rarely seen in any baseball movie are there to reflect on. The relationship between a pitcher and his catcher, a manager having to make the tough decisions, a player genuinely disliking another player, and even what a pitcher thinks about between innings to keep from stressing out about the game.
But, I rate this movie and eight out of ten mostly for one scene that I could watch over and over again.
At one point, Costner's character is pitching against a former teammate he obviously had admiration for. He says, whispering, "you look so old, what happened to us, are we really that old?" The other player flashes him a smile of friendship and he says, almost choked up, "don't smile, I hate it when you smile at me."
As a baseball fan and watching a character that cares so much about the game that who's in the opposing uniform actually choked me up. It's possibly the most touching moment in any baseball film outside of "Field of Dreams." And, any movie that can choke you up with a moment that pure deserves a 9 or 10 in my book. But, this greatness is left on the diamond and it's why this movie only gets an 8.
It's one of the most touching scenes that I have ever seen in any movie, let alone one about baseball.
Is this movie "Field of Dreams," no. What can be? Once you've perfected the baseball movie, what can compare? But, this is a much better movie than the much more predictable "The Natural" with its incredibly inaccurate portrayal of baseball (come on, there's hot streaks and all, but this guy would have been on pace to hit 150 home runs and bat .500 (1.000 when he's hot and .000 when he's cold) based on what they show in the movie).
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POSSIBLE SPOILER
Of course you know he's going to pitch the perfect game in the end, but that's not the point. The journey that Costner's character has in his mind is the point of this movie.
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Someday Hollywood will come up with an ultra realistic professional baseball movie that will satisfy all the fans. Until then, having to suspend a little disbelief is a lot better than most of the baseball dreck thrown at the viewer.
10 for the baseball scenes, 6 for the non-baseball scenes. Average = 8 out of 10.