Far Too Contrived and Formulaic

Rating: 5/10 (26 December 2012)

With the talents of Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, and John Goodman you would think you'd be in for a really good movie. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that was the case. It seemed the makers of the film went out of their way to make the film as contrived and formulaic as possible. With the various soap operaish plot elements and stilted dialog I was rolling my eyes in disbelief, especially in the final twenty minutes or so of the film.
I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood's movie work, but I thought that the concept of him being Amy Adams' father was really far fetched. Grandfather maybe. Adams, as usual, lights up the screen whenever she appears, with her vivaciousness and charisma. John Goodman does his usual solid job as the Braves Director of Scouting, and Eastwood's boss. He tries to help Eastwood and shield him from the young "vultures" who want to put Eastwood "out to pasture" once and for all. Matthew Lillard is believable as the top young "vulture" butt-kisser who has no respect for Eastwood and wants to enhance his own career.
So with all this talent and what could have been a really decent story, why did the film makers have to take the predictable path at just about every turn? Oh well, just one man's opinion.