ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (0 to 10): 2.0
Date Released: 7/15/94 Running Length: 1:45 Rated: PG (Mild profanity)
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Danny Glover, Christopher Lloyd, Brenda Fricker, Tony Danza Director: William Dear Producers: Irby Smith, Joe Roth, and Roger Birnbaum Screenplay: Dorothy Kingsley, George Wells, and Holly Goldberg Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti Music: Randy Edelman Released by Walt Disney Pictures
HC: Hello, and welcome back to the ballpark. I'm your play-by-play announcer Harry Canary, and joining me in the broadcast booth for today's game is our guest color man, James Berardinelli. Can I call ya Jim?
JB: No.
HC: Okay, Jim. If you don't mind my saying, you seem a little on the grumpy side today. Care to share with the listening audience why?
JB: Take a look who's coming up to bat, and you'll understand.
HC: That would be our first hitter of the day, the new Walt Disney movie
ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD. From the same company that made THE LION
KING.
JB: Hard to believe. Any time Disney tries their hand at live action, though, the results are usually pretty poor. Just not this bad.
HC: So, ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD stands in the box. I have to admit, Jim, it doesn't look too good from where I'm sitting.
JB: Yeah. Check out the premise. Some young kid named Roger (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is left at a temporary foster care home by a father who says they can be a family again when the California Angels win the pennant. So, naturally, Roger starts praying for that. Presto! Angels, led by the irrepressible Al (played by Christopher Lloyd) appear, and the team starts winning in the most amazing ways. The crusty manager of the Angels, George Knox (played by Danny Glover) can't believe what he's seeing as his team begins the inevitable trek from worst to first.
HC: Well, as bad as this film may look on the surface, let's see how it
performs on the field. And here's the first pitch... Strike One!
Boy that one really had ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD fooled. It didn't
have any idea where the ball was headed.
JB: That's not the only thing it doesn't have any idea about. For a baseball movie, the script shows an amazing lack of fundamental knowledge about the game. Every sports aficionado knows that the "Injured Reserve List" is not a baseball term. In this sport, it's called the "Disabled List." Such simple, basic mistakes rankle. And there are lots of them.
HC: Well, at least ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD gets the clubhouse spirit right, doesn't it?
JB: No. This is somebody's idea of what it might be like in a rowdy clubhouse, and bears no resemblance to anything real. Sure, the film is basically a fantasy, but its depiction of the reality it wants to be grounded in is ludicrous.
HC: Okay. Well, the pitcher's in his windup, and here's the second
pitch to ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD. Strike two! And this movie's in
the hole, oh-and-two.
JB: It's in a deeper hole than that. There's so much wrong that it will be difficult to cover everything in the course of a single at-bat.
HC: Try.
JB: Take the ending. It's so sweet, it makes you want to gag. Then there's the film's view on religion. The screenwriters want to use angels--which are spiritual creatures by nature--but they don't want to offend anyone, so they come up with some namby-pamby, broad, meaningless definition of God and His or Her minions.
HC: Sounds pretty weak to me.
JB: Then there's the acting. Suffice it to say that Tony Danza gives one of the most "impressive" performances, and young Joseph Gordon- Levitt has serious credibility problems. Danny Glover looks embarrassed.
HC: Forgive me for asking this, but why bother going to a movie that's this bad? I mean, you obviously couldn't have known for sure beforehand, but the previews look pretty dumb.
JB: I always like to give baseball movies a chance. Every once in a while, something decent comes along, like EIGHT MEN OUT. Unfortunately, that was a few years ago.
HC: Okay. Well, the pitcher's back into his windup, and here's the next pitch. Swing and a miss. Strike Three! And ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD is outta there on three straight strikes.
JB: No more than it deserves, and if I have to sit through another bad
baseball movie, I'll...
HC: Well, speak of the devil. That'll bring to the plate our next
batter, LITTLE BIG LEAGUE. Maybe you can give us a word or two on
that film, Jim. Uh, Jim? Calm down, now. Take it easy. Uh oh.
Somebody warn the projectionist! He's got a bat!
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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