Pure, ripe camembert!

Rating: 3/10 (1 September 2004)

Cheesy whiff? Yep, "The Natural" oozes it. This is staple 'Roy-of-the-Rovers', winner-in-the-final stuff; except it's about baseball, not soccer (and no, I didn't like it all that much better when it had Sean Bean instead of Redford, was played for 90mins and called "When Saturday Comes", either!)
Of course, there's the obligatory 'doubts' concerning the reality of the film, too; is Robby too old for all this? Let me save you the agonised protracting: Yes, he is; even in his mid-40's; but of course, in the 'magical' world of moving pictures, Redford, with his insouciant charm, might just be capable of leaping tall buildings, with his status as the 'wonderboy' of the baby boomers. Look, it even says so on his bat! ... (sigh)
Even the 'golden' guy, with the 'golden' touch and the 'golden' smile is mistaken to think he can save this cliché-fest with his powers. I'll level with ya; as a non-American, baseball is anathema to me, (silly-boys rounders!) but popular legend would have it that Ron Shelton can craft a good sports movie for people who don't like the sport. It's a pity Levinson couldn't do the same for me, because I'm afraid I thought this was a complete strike-out!
(3/10, or **/***** in profile ratings system.)