Un-like most sports movies, this romantic film works!

Rating: 8/10 (31 January 2000)

On average, sports movies either leave me cold, make me laugh at the jingoistic stuff they put in, or on rare occasions actually work and move me. This is one of the latter movies. While using the standard recipie of 'slow down the action and make things look like ballet', the film actually transends the stereotypical Baseball Is Life thing. The story is a bit hokey, and steals from the old Aurthurian legends too often, but it does so in such a sweet way that you have to love it. What does not work is the lack of resolution in several story lines, which I won't go into, but suffice it to say that you'd like to see more tidiness in the details in a picture this beautifull. Also, Redford appears as a supposedly 17 - 20 year old version of himself early on and you have to remind yourself that he's supposed to be some young phenom, not a 40 year old trying to look younger. Sorry, Bob. Generally a fine movie for a Sunday night when spring training hasn't started getting everyone bogged down with the hype that has ruined a game that is best played by fathers and their sons in the neighborhood ballpark/ vacant lot.