Costner doesn't totally strike out with his baseball flix

Rating: Null/10 (26 September 1999)

My advice to Kevin Costner: stick with the baseball movies. While "For The Love of The Game" was not as wonderful as I'd hoped, it's not terrible either. It's good to see Costner get back to his "baseball roots" after lack-luster films like "The Postman" and "Message in a Bottle".
First of all, if you go to theater in anticipation of seeing a baseball movie, you'll probably be very upset. This film, much like the other members of the Costner Baseball Trilogy, is not about baseball. Baseball is only used as the underlying metaphor for everything else that goes on in the film: love, friendship, growing old, life. And Costner and company do a good job with these aspects of the movie. I felt more moved, for example, by the relationship between Costner and Kelly Preston's screen daughter Heather, than I did when Costner finally reaches the highlight of his career, which is supposed to be the pinnacle of the film, but doesn't reproduce the emotions felt when witnessing the real thing.

All in all, the film is a good date movie and brings me back to the classic Bull Durham, where a reviews says "The desire is for the game, not the money" - a concept that is very similar to the image this movies tries to portray. It's not for money, it's not for women, it's not for fame - it's just for love of the game.