For Love of the Game (1999)

reviewed by
Rose 'Bams' Cooper


'3 Black Chicks Review...'

"For Love Of The Game" (1999) Rated PG-13; running time of 120 minutes IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0126916 Official site: http://www.universalpictures.com/forloveofthegame/ Written by: Dana Stevens, based on the novel by Michael Shaara Directed by: Sam Raimi Starring: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone, Bill E. Rogers, Greer Barnes Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 1999

There's something about Kevin Costner and uniforms--especially of the baseball variety. He wowed us (at least this part of "us") in "Bull Durham", and came back for more in "Field Of Dreams"; and now, he gives us "For Love Of The Game". The question remains: did he knock this one outta da park, or was it a swingandamiss?

The Story (WARNING: some spoilers contained below) Ever since he was a wee lad, Billy Chapel lived for the game of baseball; after spending his whole professional career as a Pitcher for the Detroit Tigers [native-Detroiter-Bammer will rant about this later,] in the last game of what a teammate describes as "the end of a shitty season", he reaches down deep and lives in "the zone", potentially pitching a perfect game. He finds himself at a crossroads when the love of his life threatens to leave him. The question is, who is that love: his girlfriend Jane Aubrey, or Baseball itself?

The Upshot I have no Deep Abiding Love for baseball. Truth to tell, it bores me silly, as do most sports. And let me go 'head and get my promised rant out of the way: for a movie that proclaims the Glory of being a Tiger, whythell was Detroit so totally shunned in this flick? Bad enough that e-v-e-r-y friggin game they played was an Away game; they couldn't do Detroit the honour of mentioning its name more than once or twice, even just in passing? It was very noticeable to the crowd that watched with me (I was surprised there were so many there for this sneak preview), and my husband ranted about it when I got home, even though he didn't watch with me. This aspect of the movie dulled the authenticity of it all for me; had Chapel been made a Yankee instead of a Tiger, I could've dug it, but there was no real Tiger Pride as far as I could see.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll surprise you a wee bit: I liked this flick. And strangely, I don't quite know why. To be sure, it seemed to do everything it could to insure that I wouldn't like it, from the Detroit-less Tigers, to being a baseball movie to begin with--and especially because of Kelly Preston.

Kelly Preston. Man, that chick was hard to deal with. At once seeming way too young for Chapel, and very outclassed in the acting department by even Costner (who doesn't deserve all the flack he gets. Some, but not all); in the end, she grew on me, maybe becase Chapel turned out to be such a prick [y'all shoulda seen the typo I made on the first draft of this review! But, as is my way, I digress.] My major Issue with her was that she looked, and acted, more like a Valley Girl than a Noo Yawka. She seemed too flighty at first, and her character began as unsympathetic for me (we see Jane stand-up Billy just before his Big Game, as she tells him she's going to London because "you don't really need me"; "Get over yourself!", I mumbled quietly to the screen), but as the movie progresses, she seems to "grow up" in fits and starts, though some of the crap she takes from Billy throughout had me wanting to shake her and wake her dumbbutt up. In the end, though there could've been better choices of actresses for her role, she acquits herself adequately enough.

And Costner, The Man Hissef; what of him? I'll put it like this: he wears his uniforms well. And that's no backhanded compliment; though he looked too old for the part, I could Believe him as a ballplayer. The shots of him (and his double) on the diamond were beautifully done by the cinematographer (it's hard to describe, unfortunately; you'll have to see it for yourself to know what I mean), especially the "clear the mechanism" scenes. And even when the pseudo-Philospher that's apparently inherant in all baseball players, came to the fore, I didn't run Yelling And Screaming from the theater. Costner's Billy Chapel seemed Real to me, and though overall, "Bull Durham" was a much better flick for him (Costner's "How do you like to be kissed?" line couldn't touch his Bull Durham characters' "I believe in..." speech to Susan Sarandon, on a good day), Kevin should be able to loose the ghosts of "The Postman" past with this one; until his next Big Flop, at least.

As for the story itself, I am again surprised that I wound up being interested in it. There was very little actual conflict, and what there was, seemed contrived. The baseball game itself was just a set-up for the flashbacks which told the story--or was it? Hmmm...even if it were, though, the "conflict" in the game itself was light; and yet, still effective. I loved the character of Gus ("the ugliest Wife in the league"; played by Reilly), and I found myself rooting for Billy's every pitch, straining to hear his "conversations" with the stadium crowd, his "worthy opponents" on the other team, and most of all, with himself--despite my lack of enthusiasm for baseball. And at the end of the game (I won't give it away, but needless to say, there were no real plot twists), I cheered right along with the rest of the crowd--on screen, and off. The simultaneous love story was rather bizarre, too; there was nothing there at all to grab onto from either the characters' standpoint or for Joe Viewer, until the appearance of one of Jane's family members (Heather, who I found quite charming, in spite of my reservations about that kind of character being added to Save The Day; perhaps because Heather was played nicely by Malone). And oddly enough, that whole plot took on a different Feel from there; it became softer, sweeter; it became interesting. It threatened to lose my interest when Preston's lack of acting skills got in the way again, but the whole timbre of the movie changed with that one scene. I blushed at their "will you still love me when..." telephone conversation--having remembered one very much like it after I fell in love with my now-husband. Recognition of Self, when watching a movie, generally being A Good Thing...

"For Love Of The Game" was no "The Natural", but at least it was no "WaterWorld" either. If you need a Feel-Good movie right about now [I did: just before I went to see it, my wallet was stolen], you could do much worse. And coming from me, that's about as good a compliment that a film not on the same level as, for instance, "The Matrix", can get.

The "Black Factor" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith] As a Black woman, I see the "Black Factor"--things that affect me as a "consumer of color"--in many aspects of life; movies included. Whether from the standpoint of noting Black (and other "minority") cast and crew members (if any), to the (lack of) focus toward "people of color" (dag, I hate that term), to the out-and-out antagonistic attitude toward Us (Jar-Jar, anyone?), the "Black Factor" (BF) is something that plays as much a role in my film enjoyment as any other aspect of the movie itself.

As has been noted Elsewhere about the lack of Blacks in new TV series this Fall season (there's an article in the 7/30/99 issue of "Entertainment Weekly" that I highly recommend, titled "White Wash"), it's much easier depicting an integrated workplace than it is to show folks of different races hangin' out after hours--but what if that workplace was the sports arena, as it is in this flick? I'd postulate that in those cases, there'd be the usual hand-wringing by The Powers That Be over How To Handle The Race Issue: "Well," I hear The Powers thinking; "should we show the team lineup as a reflection of what we actually see in real-life sports, or should we add a White [or Black, as the case may be] guy in the mix? Should we trip all over ourselves to include a Black [White] Friend? Oh how do we get The Black Dollar in to see this one?!?"

Fortunately, that postulation in this case, would be wrong. That mindset, and the slippery slope it begets, didn't seem to be at the forefront in this movie, for the most part. The Black players clearly had a Relationship with Billy, but so did the rest of the team (those that were featured, as well as the team in toto). Billy respected Davis Birche (Rogers) a former teammate of his that happened to be Black (whose wife Keisha--played by Sheila Lussier--also had an effect on Jane), and though the little time they spent on their personal relationship felt a little clumsy, it wasn't focused on long enough to make the problematic part of modern entertainment--showing White and Black folks together in non-workplace settings--become an Issue. And I still have the feeling that if it were (this being a movie drama, not a TV sitcom), it would've been done well. At any point, there was no big deal made of the fact that either Davis, or Mickey Hart (Barnes), a current teammate who he gave some sound advice to, in the role of OldSchooler, were Black. And that, in this instance, was A Good Thing.

Bammer's Bottom Line My problems with the flick notwithstanding (Kelly Preston at times; the DAMNED ANNOYING Fox TV announcers--I think all sports announcers should be fined for stoopidity when they keep yammering on; likewise, the DAMNED ANNOYING "instant replays"--not only did they not look real, they were simply unneeded, having added nothing to the story), there was something about this film that Reached me. I didn't mind being less $6 for the sneak preview that I saw. That may not sound like much of a movie recommendation, so look at it this way: I wouldn't mind seeing it again, even if only as a second-run flick; "Chill Factor", and its ilk, I wouldn't see again if you paid me. Can ya diggit?

"For Love Of The Game": Though I have no love for the game of baseball, this flick stands out for me if only because it was the first new one I've seen in awhile that didn't plain Suck. Maybe my standards are too low lately because of that, but what the heck; unless you're an certified Costner-hater (or if the thought of seeing even fictionalized baseball gives you gas), go check it out.

And that's the way I see it.
3 Black Chicks...Movie Reviews With Flava!            /~\
Rose "Bams" Cooper                                   /','\
3BlackChicks Enterprises                            /','`'\
Copyright Rose Cooper, 1999                        /',',','/`,
EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com   ICQ: 7760005        `~-._'c    /
http://www.3blackchicks.com/                            `\   (
http://manetheren.cl.msu.edu/~bambam/                    /====\

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews