A familiar journey, nicely anchored by humor, charm and moving drama

Rating: 7/10 (22 September 2001)

I'm sure we've went down this road before. Washed-up loser gets into a big mess; he/she becomes a coach of a pain-in-the-neck sports team. "Mighty Ducks" and "Sunset Park" are two movies that come to mind. Brian Robbins is obviously a big sports fan. It seems as if his career focus is to make sports films. Robbins also directed "Varsity Blues" and "Ready To Rumble." But I think "Hardball" has a much more raw atmosphere. It's set in a cruddy inner-city in Chicago.
In the tradition of "Bad News Bears" the little tykes on the team possess amazingly filthy mouths. I'm surprised this film actually earned the PG-13 rating (it was originally going to be an R). Sure, the f-word is only mentioned once, but every other curse word in the book is mentioned almost repeatedly. Some of the kids' foul language and slang is quite amusing and funny. But at times it seems redundant and strictly for shock value.

Keanu Reeves is terrific in a moderately different role. He plays a gambling-addicted ticket scalper, who can never keep himself out of trouble. The opening scene is amusing. Keanu enters a Church on a rainy night to pray that the Bulls cover the point spread. Though I always felt Keanu was a talented actor (many seem to disagree), I have to hand it to him for taking on a role that requires him to be non-glamorous, unshaven and quite grungy. And he's entirely convincing. The beautiful Diane Lane plays a Catholic school teacher, who's concerned with the students from her class doing their book reports before going out on the field. Her job is to pretty much serve as Keanu's female diversion. Geez, I wonder if he gets her at the end.
Don't expect any big surprises; this is your standard sports comedy/drama. But it's funny, entertaining, well-acted and moving. The film ends on a very depressing note, which had me crying my eyes out. And of course, it delivers a wholesome message about sportsmanship--though it's obvious that Keanu would've had a much tougher time coaching the team if those were real ghetto kids. But to every film, there has be an arc. I'll let that slide. Besides, how can you pass on the chance to see Keanu sing "Big Poppa" by Notorious B.I.G.? Talk about a chance of a lifetime!

My score: 7 (out of 10)