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For Love of the Game
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Rreilly,
Jena Malone
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| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
Universal
Pictures |
| Web Site: |
www.forloveofthegame.com |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Not too young, they might get bored, but bring
the older sons & daughters.
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| Date Movie: |
She might make you go, but don't put up a fight. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
They kept it fairly clean.
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| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Nah. |
| Action: |
Nah. |
| Laughs: |
Some lines and scenes. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
Many, but I still can't forget the outfielder
missing the catch and getting hit on the top of his
head by the ball.
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| Memorable
Quote: |
The opposing coach to the "up from the minors"
pinch-hitter: "Wreck it." and Billy telling Jane
when he hurt his hand to call his trainer, "I need
him the most right now."
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| Directed By: |
Sam Raimi |
| Produced By: |
Armyan Bernstein, Amy Robinson |
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For Love of the Game
A Movie Review |
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A couple of thoughts came to my mind
as I was leaving "For Love of the Game." One was that Kelly
Preston is still a babe. The other was that Kevin Costner
should really stick to romantic movies for the dudettes,
maybe throwing in a sports angle if he wants to keep guys
happy, and keep away from off the wall futuristic movies.
He's a romantic leading man, that's what he is. He should
just accept it and take the Robert Redford path he seems
meant to lead. And finally, I really, really, really, really
had to pee.
Costner plays Billy Chapel, a pitcher with the Detroit
Tigers. He gets to New York City and in the course of an
evening and a morning has a bunch of crappy turns of events.
First his girlfriend, Jane (Kelly Preston), stands him up
and doesn't meet him for dinner. Then in the morning, after
raiding the liquor cabinet, he finds out that the team is
being sold and he'll be traded if he doesn't retire. Crappy
enough, sure, but then Jane shows up and tells him that
she's leaving for England and it's over. Yea, like I'd be in
any mood to pitch what might be the last game of my career,
but Billy sucks it up and leads us through nine innings of
flashbacks of his relationship with Jane as he works towards
a no-hitter.
And that spells the format of the movie - the happiness
and sadness of his relationship with Jane story for the
dudettes, flashbacked during scenes of a pitcher throwing
his possible last game heroics for the dudes. And it worked.
Yes, it worked for me.
Sure, the romance thing was kind of hokey, and, well, the
ending was pretty much obvious from the beginning, but even
with that a tear came into my eye a couple of times.
I've heard Costner was upset because the studio
supposedly cut his nudity and love scenes to get a PG-13
rating, but you know what, I'm glad they did, although if it
was Kelly getting nude, well, maybe I'm not so glad. In any
case, in doing so, they made "For Love of the Game" a movie
you could take your family to and there aren't many of those
these days. The girls will like the love story, the boys
will like the baseball, the dad will tear up as Billy works
the game, and the mom will cry when Billy realizes where
he's meant to be.
Alright, maybe this ruined the movie a little bit, but I
still think the endings in this movie are pretty obvious so
I don't feel that bad telling you them.
Anyway, I really liked "For Love of the Game." Maybe I'm
just a sucker for a happy ending sometimes, or maybe I'm a
sucker for liking to see a sports dude overcome adversity,
but in any case "For Love of the Game" entertained me and
that was worth the price of admission.
It's 4 stars out of 5 for Kevin's latest film, "For Love
of the Game," even if I tend to call it "For the Love of the
Game" sometimes.
That's it for this one!! I'm The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!! |
