Not a good film

Rating: 4/10 (2 April 2004)

At first, I expected this to be another Mighty Ducks-type of movie, with heartwarming interaction between a messed-up guy and a lovable group of kids who teach him about teamwork and the love of the game. But no. In Hardball, Keanu Reeves started out grumpy, and he stayed grumpy. The kids, despite the trauma in their lives that could be pretty sympathetic, weren't lovable, and you didn't feel like you got to know them on any kind of personal level. If Keanu's character had grown, if his coaching had seemed to mean anything to the kids or if you could in any way understand Diane Lane's contention that the kids trusted him and they're never wrong, then this movie might have been okay. As it is, however the story was bad, and the weak acting only added to that to make this movie less than enjoyable.
I'm a huge baseball fan, but even so, I'd say skip this and go rent The Mighty Ducks. Or, if you want to stick to the baseball storyline and you aren't so hung up on the 'down-on-his-luck curmudgeonly coach with a team of spunky kids' plot, then Little Big League or Rookie of the Year are both fun family films with cute kids and good baseball. All of these movies are far superior to Hardball.
Four stars out of ten