"Curve" Falters Down the Stretch

Rating: 5/10 (24 September 2012)

I love baseball, and the thought of Clint Eastwood playing a crusty old baseball scout with Amy Adams as his daughter sounded great to me. "Trouble with the Curve" gets off to a great start -- unshaven Clint eating breakfast out of yesterday's SPAM can, Amy rattling off baseball trivia like it ran in her blood. Unfortunately, after developing these characters with great potential the script gives them nothing to hit with.
Clint plays a character named Gus, an old legendary baseball scout in the Atlanta Braves organization who is having trouble with his eyesight. His wife died when Mickey, his daughter played by Amy Adams, was six, leaving lots of father-daughter issues to resolve on film, as you can imagine. Johnny (Justin Timberlake), a former ballplayer, was scouted by Gus but eventually traded to the Red Sox, who's mismanagement resulted in a torn rotator cuff and a short career. He feels he owes Gus for the chance he got and ends up falling for Mickey (naturally).
Right from the start, fluffy dialogue falls flat over and over again, leaving awkward silences and empty arguments. Amy Adams in particular seems to chafe under the poorly written dialogue. At times Mickey uses casual language with her peers that would never pass in a big city law firm. A romantic scene at a lake between her and Johnny breaks down, making it difficult to believe the romantic energy between them. Even during the critical scenes between Gus and his daughter, the dialogue goes exactly as every viewer expects it to, leaving us slightly self satisfied but not exactly entertained.
There are some lovely scenes, to be sure, and great footage of clogging in a local bar. Clint, Amy and Justin are always fun to watch, and they were entertaining in "Trouble with the Curve", but their warm performances could not compensate for a predictable script with awkward dialogue.
An airplane movie but nothing more.