"Hardball" – Take Me Out to the Ball Game by Homer Yen (c) 2001
If you see at least 10 movies a year and if you're the kind of moviegoer that likes to settle into your seat before the previews begin, you've probably seen trailers of Public Service Announcements. Situated after unwelcome commercials but before film previews, you might have seen clips espousing the cause of the Will Rogers Institute, a charity race for some dreaded disease, or the warm segment in which a person standing in front of his broken down car in a torrential downpour is given an umbrella by a passing car. "Courtesy," says the voice-over. "Pass it on."
One uplifting PSA is the one that features young adults who struggle to do something better with their lives despite the dark pressures of inner city life. With the tagline, "Opportunity, the anti-drug," it projects a spirit that is uplifting and hopeful. The essence of that two-minute segment is captured in "Hardball," based on an early 90s memoir of coaching Little League baseball in Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project. The film is a surprisingly emotional and gritty melodrama about inner city youths and a down-and-out loser who hope to find a safe haven.
The film quickly establishes a tone of despondency and desperation as we meet Conor (Keanu Reeves), an addicted gambler indebted to the wrong kinds of people. His creditors don't charge interest; they just bash heads. Looking as if he hadn't slept in a week, we see him praying in church. A passing priest asks, "You looking for faith? Forgiveness?" Conor solemnly replies, "I'm looking for the Bulls to cover the spread."
In dire straits, he calls a long-time friend for help. Conor is told that he'll get $500 a week in return for his services as a coach for a boy's baseball team in the projects. With little choice in the matter, he grudgingly reports to the tattered field and meets his team. Underprivileged, the kids lack tact, discipline, and brotherhood. It'll take a miracle for them to jell.
But baseball has a strange way of bringing everyone closer together. And with the right coach and the right attitude, miracles can happen. "New rule," demands Conor. "No one can say anything bad about anyone else on the team." And with those words the kids begin to slowly develop a sense of camaraderie and a sense of unity. The kids, all feisty yet adorable, see Conor as the father that they never had and baseball as their anti-drug. Conor meanwhile slowly transforms from seedy hustler to a man who rediscovers his self-respect. Reeves-as-Conor turns in one of his better dramatic performances (which even made me want to say his trademark line of "Whoa").
While the baseball story is what the film swings for, it's the biting urban milieu that allows the film to go the distance. Otherwise, it would be about as interesting as watching today's Bulls (without Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman). When Conor escorts a team member back to his project apartment, for example, he is shocked to see everyone sitting on the floor. His player matter-of-factly says, "no one wants to get hit by bullets." The pall of inner city life may discourage them and tragedy may try to overtake them. But baseball and hope will always be their anti-drug.
Grade: B
S: 0 out of 3 L: 2 out of 3 V: 2 out of 3
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