For Love of the Game (1999)

Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Dana Stevens, based on the novel by Michael Shaara
Starring Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, Jena Malone, John C. Reilly, Brian Cox

My Advice: Wait for Cable.

Billy Chapel (Costner) may be the last of the old school baseball players, but he's having a bad day.  His career as a star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers is taking a downward turn, his arm hurts like a son of a gun, and his girlfriend, Jane (Preston), stood him up the night before.  As he takes the mound in Yankee Stadium for what could be the most crucial game of his life, he reflects back on that life, with Jane and without, and tries to get in the Zone one last time.

This is probably one of the most uneven films of the year, I'm afraid.  It's got a major case of split personalities.  On one hand, it has some very heart-warming moments, like when Billy and Jane are courting, just getting started in their relationship.  The two characters finding out about each other for the first time has the honest awkward quality you would expect out of those scenes.  But flash forward to the present, and suddenly you're in Robert James Waller territory, with bad saccharine dialogue between the two of them that makes your molars hurt.  Costner is his usual likable self, Preston tries to make the best of her role, and Jena Malone does the best she can with the understood-teen archetype she was handed.  Reilly provides some needed comic relief and Cox is merely along for the ride.

You get the same tragic duality with the sequences of The Game itself, which Billy struggles to stay focused on.  When Billy pitches from inning to inning, talking to himself, making comments about the batters--it's amusing and engaging.  However, when the competition begins to come down to the wire be prepared to hear "Just How Important This Game Is And Did We Mention How Important This Game Is" over and over by the announcers until you finally want to stand up and scream, "Okay, Sam!  We get it!  We get it!!"  There was adequate tension and suspense, guys, applying it with a sledgehammer is a sure sign of cinematic desperation.

Don't get me wrong--there's a lot to like about this, but there's much more not to like.  You see, the film switches back and forth from intelligent, well-written smooth sailing to over-the-top Velveeta-ridden silliness so severely (and when it did come down on the side of the latter, it did so very hard), I just had to dock it some major points.  The fact that it overstays its welcome, clocking in way beyond two hours, doesn't help matters.  If you love baseball--and I mean love and adore baseball--then this is your perfect date movie.  If you just like baseball, like me, then spare yourself the agony.