MR. BASEBALL
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson
105 min., PG-13, Comedy, 1992 Director: Fred Schepisi Cast: Tom Selleck, Dennis Haysbert, Ken Takakura, Art La Fleur
Tom Selleck, a major league ball player, is in a slump. His team trades him to a Japanese team. In Japan, Selleck finds that many of the customs are different than in the U.S., and he must learn to cope with them.
MR. BASEBALL is a funny, but pointless comedy. This is a movie just to go, watch, and have fun, no thought required. In other words, I loved it. I suggest that fans of comedies see this film. It doesn't matter whether you see this film in the theater or on video cassette, it will be just as good either way. If you go to the theater, I suggest matinee prices only. I expect this film to be a box office bomb, and then will be a hit on home video, just because so many good films are out or coming soon that this one will get left behind. On a scale of zero to five, I give MR. BASEBALL a four. MR. BASEBALL is rated PG-13 for explicit language, adult situations, and adult humor.
Tom Selleck hasn't had a really good film since THREE MEN AND A BABY that I have seen. This film isn't going to make him a star again, but it is on the right track. The advertisements made this film look like the stupidest film of 1992, so, of course, I went out to see it; it was, and so I loved it.
One basic problem with the film is that it tried to get emotional at the end and that didn't fit with the rest of the film. The beginning of the film is about the society differences between America and Japan. The end turns into a love tale between Selleck and a Japanese woman. Unfortunately the humor lags there and the film starts to drag along. The baseball part is absolutely hilarious and made the film worth going to.
All the people in the film do a great job, although that isn't hard. And the direction, by Fred Schepisi (THE RUSSIA HOUSE), is well done. The film has an original idea (at least I haven't seen it before) that works. If only the film had been cut by fifteen minutes, I think it would have ended up much better.
-------- Ken Johnson blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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