Well-balanced baseball themed movie, Adams and Timberlake play well off Eastwood.

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2013)

I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s as a baseball fan, playing some ball and seeing teams like the Dodgers, the Cardinals, the Mets, the Giants, and the Colt 45s play MLB. So seeing this baseball themed movie with a veteran like Clint Eastwood was just a joy. There is little actual baseball playing here, the focus is on scouting. Embedded is the story of a man and the strained relationship with his adult daughter, a high-powered Atlanta lawyer.
Clint Eastwood is veteran scout Gus, who does it the old-fashioned way, he reads newspapers, goes out to see what prospects look like, and has developed a sense that allows him to "hear" clues. But old Gus is losing his eyesight, he stumbles over things, he gets angry, everyone around him senses something is wrong, but Gus is too proud to admit he has early macular degeneration. Plus the hot-shot scouts using computers for their scouting razz him about being out of date.
Amy Adams is one of my favorite actresses, she is very attractive and athletic, and always creates interesting characters. Here as daughter Mickey (named after Mickey Mantle) she must be a top-notch, hard-nosed lawyer pushing for partnership in the firm, plus be a capable, knowledgeable baseball person who has "scouting" instincts. She and Gus have not been on good terms for years, since her mom died when Mickey was 6. She always struggled with what she saw as Gus simply being an "absent father".
Gus may lose his job when his contract expires in 3 months, he has a critical scouting trip coming up, Mickey learns about his eye problem by pressing the eye doctor, so to protect her dad she takes time off a critical project of her own to join him on the scouting trip. This eventually affords them the opportunity to clear some things up.
One of the people she meets in Justin Timberlake as Johnny, an old friend of her dad's, he was recruited by Gus as a pitcher but his career ended prematurely from being over-pitched and he suffered shoulder injuries. So now he is scouting, and hoping for a promotion to on-air commentator for the home team.
While the whole story is straightforward and easy to follow, there is a lot of complexity and the movie is done very well. Plus the resolution in the last couple of scenes is very heartwarming. My wife and I both enjoyed it. Good movie.
I saw it twice, 4 days apart, and enjoyed it even more the second time.
A bit of trivia, there is a character, Rigo, who is working as a peanut vendor at a school baseball game. When he tosses a bag it seems that he has a pretty good arm. Later he becomes the subject of a "discovery" as a lefthanded pitcher. Jay Galloway, totally new actor, plays that role, he was chosen because he in actuality is a lefthanded pitcher in school.
(Of note, the young hitter Billy Clark, lonesome for his mom, is played by Clint's real-life son Scott Eastwood.)
SPOILERS: The hot-shot computerized recruiters drafted a kid who was a good hitter, but Gus and Mickey had determined he can't hit a curve ball ("Trouble with The Curve"). Meanwhile Mickey "discovered" Rigo, throwing outside her motel room, she put on the mitt and caught a few, "listened" for the right sound. She talked Gus's boss into giving him a tryout. He pitched against the new recruit, who failed to make even contact with any pitch, fastball or curveball. Mickey would give up her quest for law firm partnership and become an agent as a start to her baseball career.