Sweet but predictable

Rating: 7/10 (22 September 2012)

In "Trouble With the Curve" (title explained toward the end of the movie for non-baseball fans) Clint Eastwood plays Gus, a baseball scout who begins to have vision problems shortly before he's scheduled to take a trip to scout out an obnoxious but talented high schooler, who hits a wicked sweet homer. Gus, we are told early on, doesn't put any stock in those newfangled computer programs that all the other scouts use because a computer can't tell if a kid's got heart, and so on....Gus's friend, played by John Goodman, realizing that something's up with Gus, recruits his daughter Mickey (Amy Adams), a workaholic lawyer to accompany Gus on the trip. Mickey has her own issues, stemming from her dad sending her away to temporarily live with relatives after her mother's death, and as Justin Timberlake's character, a former pitcher, puts it, when the two get going, they're as good as the Kardashians. Will Gus save the day? Will Mickey realize there's more to life than making partner? Will she end up with the guy whom she initially gives the brush off? Only if you've never seen a movie before, will you be unable to figure this all out, and even then, you might anyway.
In the movie, Mickey describes her ideal guy, and she points at her head, then her heart. This movie's got oodles of heart, but not many brains. The three leads do an excellent job, even with a weak script, but it's predictable from start to finish. You may enjoy it, but you probably won't remember too much about it a month or so later.
P.S. From its trailer shown before TWTC, the baseball bio about Jackie Robinson coming out next spring looks much better.