Hardball: Movie, DVD Review (2001)

Directed by Brian Robbins, written by John Gatins, rated PG-13.

(Originally published 2001)

Sometimes, even the most shameless, formulaic movies can be lifted by a performance, a scene or a moment that transcends the material and turns it into something that’s at least, in part, worth watching.

Such is the case with Brian Robbins’ little league heart-warmer, “Hardball.” The best thing about the movie is the inner-city kids Robbins has gathered to play the game--they’re wonderful, natural, first-time actors, giving the film a depth and a soul it never would have had without them.

In the film, Keanu Reeves is Conor O’Neill, a hardluck gambler thousands of dollars in debt to a group of muscle-head bookies eager to get their money back. After being beaten to a pulp for refusing to pay off one of his debts, Conor has an epiphany: His life might literally be hitting the skids--which is why, after a forced series of events, he finds himself coaching a little league team in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing project for $500 a week.

For the boozy, complacent Conor, it’s an easy gig--all he has to do is show up, collect his check and pay off those looking to lynch him. But as he comes to know this rag-tag team of underdog players, he predictably grows to love them as he himself grows as a person.

In the film’s trailer and television ads, “Hardball” looks like a squeaky-clean, fun-loving family film, which it certainly is when its young players aren’t being subjected to shootouts, asthma attacks, murders and funerals--or, perhaps more notably, when they’re not unleashing a stream of expletives at the screen.

The film is based on Daniel Coyle’s gritty book, “Hardball: A Season in the Projects,” and Robbins, working from a script by John Gatins, has wisely retained some of its sourcebook’s inner-city edge.

Still, the results are mixed. The film, which feels like a cross between “The Bad News Bears” and “Boyz N the Hood,” works best when it sticks to the lessons learned on the playing field. But when it gives in to the manipulative demands of the Hollywood marketing machine and starts firing off rounds of purple prose and a cliched love story between Reeves and Diane Lane, the film bats itself--and audiences--straight into the most desolate corners of left field.

Grade: C+