"I came here to play ball."

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2011)

Sometimes the best sports movies don't have a lot to do with the sport that's being represented on film. You could say "The Natural" is a good baseball movie, but it's not really about the game as much as it is about examining a man's life and the way he plays the cards he's been dealt. It's about determination and loyalty, with a healthy dose of personal redemption. Iris Gaines (Glenn Close) sums it up pretty well for Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) when she explains her theory of two lives - "the life we learn with and the life we live with after that". It can't be stated any better than that.
I have to admit, I thought the idea of the 'Wonder Boy' was a little corny when I first saw the film, but then I think about some of the goofy stuff I came up with when I was a lot younger and it doesn't seem so out of place. I liked the idea of bat-boy Billy carrying on his own tradition with the Savoy Special, especially when it was called on to save the day in the defining moment of the story. When Roy said "Pick me out a winner Bobby", you knew the outcome was inevitable but it was a thrill to see it happen nonetheless.
"The Natural" has a great cast supporting the principal players, with Wilford Brimley as the crusty manager Pop Fisher, Kim Basinger as sexy seductress Memo Paris, and Robert Duvall as sportswriter Max Mercy. A young Michael Madsen is barely recognizable as ball player Bump Bailey in an early film appearance, and I got the biggest kick out of the guy the Knights brought in as a motivational speaker. If losing is a disease, I wonder what illness he had.