Flashy treatment can only take this material so far...

Rating: 5/10 (23 May 2008)

Robert De Niro as yet another crack-pot: this time, he's a baseball-obsessed knife salesman fixated on Wesley Snipes, the new $40 million pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. Based on the book by Peter Abrahams, the picture begins as a kinetic exercise of two diverse characters whose lives eventually cross, but the screenplay is so flimsy that it degenerates too soon into psycho-drama clichÃ©s, replete with gaping story holes and a manic finale. Director Tony Scott's flashy treatment helps it along for just over an hour before the bottom falls out. Solid acting by both De Niro and Snipes is a definite plus; Patti D'Arbanville-Quinn also scores in a terrific bit playing De Niro's ex-wife. ** from ****