For Love of the Game Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com Member: Online Film Critics Society
*** out of four
"Haven't you ever loved anything that much?"
Starring Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly. Rated PG-13.
As Waterworld and The Postman prove, Kevin Costner fares better, both cinematically and financially, when he surrenders the director's chair to one of his betters and constrains himself to merely being the star. In For Love of the Game, Costner's triumphant return to baseball (see Field of Dreams and Bill Durham), the man behind the camera is Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, A Simple Plan), an unpretentious yet sublimely confident auteur with an amazing range (he went from cheesy horror to crime drama to baseball romance). Raimi's latest is also the best we've seen from Costner since Tin Cup; an engaging, interestingly structured drama nearly botched by its denoument. Those who seek to have an unabashedly positive memory of the film would do well to leave right after its baseball game centerpiece, the place where it should have been cut off.
For Love of the Game has a baseball backdrop but it is not a "baseball movie". It's about Billy Chapel (Costner), a great pitcher in the twilight of his career, who has just been told that he is being traded from the Detroit Tigers; the team he has played with for some 19 years. At the same time, he finds out that Jane (Kelly Preston), his long-time girlfriend decided to leave him. As he goes into his last game of the season, his last game with the Tigers and possibly his last game, he remembers and examines important moments in his roller coaster relationship, discovering more about it than he did during its course.
They met when he saw Jane's car stalled on the side of a highway, with Jane kicking the living headlights out of the poor vehicle. Being a nice guy, Billy stops to help, and this being Hollywood, he invites her to go to a baseball game with him. One thing leads to another and they wind up together in Billy's hotel room. Now that they've slept together, he thinks, they're in a relationship, but not so fast: Jane shuns the idea, wanting to make sure she does not become a "groupie".
After being chased enough times by Billy, she gives it up and the three (Jane has a daughter) move in together. They are doing wonderfully until he badly hurts his arm in a woodshop accident. He is determined to make a comeback and return to the mound; his trainer and his girlfriend are doubtful and less than supportive. Without thinking the matter through, Billy explodes and makes Jane leave; an action he comes to regret and attempts to reconcile.
The love story is told almost exclusively through flashback, the film cutting back and forth between it and the all-important baseball game (in which, by the way, Chapel tries for a perfect game). It's not the most original style of storytelling, but it works because Raimi effectively and subtly injects the flashbacks with a common theme. Indeed, up to the last ten minutes, I had a sneaking suspicion that this might be that rare Hollywood love story that's actually about something. It built up enough momentum that I was ready for a conclusion to drive its point home. Instead, what has been a compelling tale of a man learning to depend on himself turns into a banal, typical, hollow romance.
This cruel bait-and-switch can only detract from the film to a certain point. Despite its eventual thematic inadequacies it remains a perfectly entertaining Tinseltown production. Under the sure direction of Sam Raimi, it's a lot of fun to watch, even if it's not much else. The suspense of the baseball game is genuine (though the trailers thoughtlessly gave away the result) and the romance feels real (most of the time). There is a fight scene (relationship quarrel, not martial arts) that is so well-written it's devastating.
Kevin Costner does his job in a relatively straightforward role; though he has his moments and though I can't point out anything specifically wrong with what he does, he still tends to fall short of outstanding. His character is engaging but not really because of Costner's performance. Kelly Preston, on the other hand, is wonderful. We can understand why a man would be so interested in her, because we are equally enchanted. Jane's daughter, played well by Oscar winner Anna Paquin, is an unusual character because she is not strapped with the cliche of hating her mom's new boyfriend; a refreshing occurence as almost all movie kids in a single-parent home are required to despise their parent's new love interest.
I enjoyed this movie so much that I watched with my hands on my head in desperation as it grossly undermined itself in the last act. It kept itself from being anything beyond a solid and entertaining but typically empty mainstream drama. It's a fun movie -- I recommend it for that -- but little more. ©1999 Eugene Novikov‰
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
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