Rating: 

The Info

Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: Dana Stephens (novel by Michael Shaara)
Starring: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone
Produced by: Armyan Bernstein, Amy Robinson

The Nutshell

A Major League pitcher relives key moments of his past as he pitches his final game.

The Review

    Ahhhh baseball. It's been America's favourite pastime for decades now. Thousands of North Americans sit in front of their television screens nightly each summer, rooting for their home team. It is no surprise them that baseball is the most popular choice of sport about which to make a film. Let's face it, a tale about a quarterback, or the little guy who sits at the front of those low rowing boats, just wouldn't seem interesting, would it? Somehow films about baseball seem patriotic, and thus by watching them, we the audience can somehow feel patriotic. Perhaps it is no surprise then that Kevin Costner has now made three baseball films; he has long had a fascination with America (witness his riveting Dances With Wolves, or JFK) and by making baseball films, he is simply exploring another facet of his country. Thankfully for him, and us, Costner looks right in a baseball uniform, otherwise For Love Of The Game would be nothing more than an exercise in tedium.

    As it is, the film's entire plot is known to the Average Joe before he even sits down; the inept marketing hacks who came up with the ad campaign for this film decided that it would be a good idea to reveal the whole film in a single preview. Thus it is with no hesitation that I can tell you that Billy Chapel (Costner), at one time one of the best pitchers in baseball, finds himself in his final match-up against the Yankees. His team (The Tigers) has been sold, and the new owners have decided to trade him away. To add salt to the wound, Billy's lover Jane (Preston) has left him for a job in London. Throughout his game, in which it appears that he might throw a perfect game, he relives the key moments of his relationship with Jane through a series of flashbacks.

     Knowing a film's plot before seeing it isn't necessarily a damaging thing; most of us heard about the climactic light-saber duel between Darth Maul and the Jedis long before seeing Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but it didn't matter because it was an exciting, near-exhilarating scene. In Love Of The Game writer Dana Stephen's case, the exact opposite is true. We not only know what to expect, but are bored by it as it happens. The romance between Jane and Billy consists of a series of one or two day encounters in New York (they can only meet when his Tigers come to play the Yankees) and so Stephens turns each encounter into a grab-bag of cliched romantic moments. They each make mistakes and hurt the other, but they have destiny printed all over their faces. One consistent tension is the importance of Billy's baseball career. When he injures his pitching hand, he tells Jane to call his trainer, naming him "the most important person for me right now".

    Sam Raimi, director of the twisted but fun Evil Dead series and the engaging A Simple Plan gets frighteningly mainstream here. With the exception of one cool camera trick to show how Chapel ignores the taunting fans, there are no interesting camera shots in the film. The baseball scenes consist of Chapel pitching and his favourite catcher Gus (Reilly) catching. Due to the nature of a perfect game in baseball, there are perhaps five times where someone connects with a pitch, leaving the film devoid of exciting baseball footage. Raimi even goes so far as to show some of the scenes from a TV screen in an airport. Baseball is boring enough on our TV screens, let alone one on film. By the time the laughably overdone ending finally comes, you may find yourself struggling to leave your seat; your brain shuts down about five minutes into the film, leaving you comatose and lethargic.

    As I said in the beginning, thank goodness Kevin Costner stars in this film; he is the only redeeming thing about For Love Of The Game. Costner has always been able to portray men who are damaged and lacking in the charm department. Chapel stumbles through every romantic thing he wants to say, and his gawky "I have never been able to talk with girls" demeanour is likeable. We have seen it before, but it works for Costner, and thus works for us. If you are a fan of baseball or Kevin Costner (or probably both), ignore everything I have said here, because it doesn't apply to you. A true baseball fan will love this movie, as they loved Field Of Dreams. However, if baseball isn't your thing, steer clear of For Love of The Game as you will fall asleep halfway through.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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