Eastwood's Final Acting Role Turns Out A Surprise

Rating: 9/10 (28 March 2013)

Trouble with the Curve is a sports drama film starring Clint Eastwood in his supposed final acting role together with Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, Matthew Lillard, and John Goodman. The film revolves around an aging baseball scout whose daughter joins him on a scouting trip. Robert Lorenz directed it.
Gus Lobel has been one of the best scouts in baseball for decades, but, despite his efforts to hide it, age is starting to catch up with him. Nevertheless, Gus, who can tell a pitch just by the crack of the bat, refuses to be benched for what may be the final innings of his career. He may not have a choice. The front office of the Atlanta Braves is starting to question his judgment, especially with the country's hottest batting phenom on deck for the draft. He is given one last assignment to prove his worth to the organization, which sees him as unable to adapt to changes in the business. His boss and friend Pete, who does not want to see him let go, asks Gus's daughter Mickey to join him on the trip to make sure he's okay, against Gus's wishes. Together they scout a top new prospect in North Carolina, where Mickey begins to take an active role in her father's work to make up for his failing vision, which he has hidden from his bosses. Along the way Gus reconnects with Johnny, a rival team's scout who has a friendly history with Gus, as Gus was the man who scouted him when he was a baseball player, and who also takes an interest in Mickey.
Though predictable and somewhat dramatically underwhelming, it benefits from Eastwood's grizzled charisma as he looks a in his 80's and lot trimmer compared to some of the performers in this film half his age. He may be the only octogenarian actor who has to play older than his age to be convincing. Added to that, his easy chemistry with a charming Adams benefits the film so much. Both do the best they can with the cornball sentimentality and cheesy dialogue which turns out great as this film is a stunning, beautiful surprise. Like the baseball diamond that features so prominently, we all know which base will be dutifully tapped next and that a home run for the characters is inevitable. It is a sports movie, a romance without sentimentality, and the emotional trauma of a family secret.