A feel good movie!

Rating: 8/10 (14 November 2015)

I lived in India for nearly 3 years and can really identify with this movie. A down on his luck sports agent, Jon Hamm, goes to India to try and recruit a baseball pitcher in a contest called Million Dollar Arm. His scout, played by the always wonderful Alan Arkin, is a welcome addition to the cast. They also recruit a young Indian, Amit, played by Pitobash who is excellent in the roll, as the interpreter. After traveling all over India they find a couple of young men who are very raw but have potential. Of course they've never played baseball before so it's not going well. Enter Coach house played by Bill Paxton. He has six months to turn them into baseball players so they can have a try out with a major league team. Lake Bell as the love interest and nurturing influence has good chemistry with all the guys. Based on a true story (with, I imagine, plenty of literary license) it makes for a good, old fashioned uplifting movie. I've seen this now several times and enjoy it as much now as I did the first time I saw it. I'm not a huge baseball fan but it wasn't so much about the baseball as it was about second chances. Probably not for everyone but a good vehicle for Jon Hamm as he moves off the small screen and into movies.