Very Rookie-level film making

Rating: Null/10 (26 April 2002)

I went into this movie expecting a sweet, sentimental, feel good movie that lived up the great reviews it's been getting. Instead, what I got was a painfully mediocre movie with absolutely nothing new to offer. This movie is nothing more than a recycled story line from every other movie in its genre, and it fails to offer anything substantially different from any of them.
Meet Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid), a high school teacher/baseball coach who once had a dream of being in the major leagues. However, somewhere down the line, he got an arm injury and settled for a small town family life instead. One day, he shocks his high school baseball team by throwing a pitch that clocks in at 98 MPH. The kids then launch into a motivational speech, somewhere along the cliche lines of "you always encourage us to chase our dreams, but you're not following your own!" Bewildered by this shocking revelation, Morris decides to try out for pro baseball, if, and only if, the high school team gets into the district championship. Hmmm, I wonder what happens...
My biggest fault with this movie (besides the fact that you know the entire story solely from the 1 minute trailer), is that it expects you to sympathize with the characters and feel what they're feeling, but it never takes the steps needed to form those connections. His few scenes with his wife are brief and distant, not showing us any real bond or chemistry between the two characters. The only one of his kids we somewhat get to know is his adoring 8-year-old son, who idolizes his dad's infatuation with baseball and wants to be just like him. Beyond that, we see no real connections between Morris and his family. They are simply props in the background while he chases his dreams.
I would rate this movie a very generous 6/10. While it was not a terrible movie, it was certainly not ground breaking or impressive all the same. If you want to see a genuinely feel-good, excellent baseball movie, rent "league of their own" instead.