Rating of
2.5/4
A fair ball -- er -- movie
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/02/08
This is the true story of one of the biggest scandals in the history of Major League Baseball -- the 1919 Black Sox Scandal which helped cement the legend of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (DB Sweeney)
If you ask me, this movie is three balls, no strikes. There are some good, but not great, performances, authentic wardrobes, automobiles and architecture, and some fair ball -- I mean game scenes.
John Cusack is one of the best performances. Other actors in the movie performances are pretty good, but their roles are not real big. Not one of the performances were all too memorable.
One thing I noticed was that the characters only scratched the surface of the people, and the history is played around with a bit. The famed "Say it ain't so, Joe," scene is depicted, but even the real "Shoeless" Joe himself said it never actually happened.
One thing that I was impressed with was the authentic clothing and props. Even the advertisements in the outfield during the games were authentic looking.
I felt that many of the cast didn't put forth the best performances that they could have, which may have been caused by the fairly weak script.
If you are expecting some good on-field action, you may want to see another movie. It focuses more on the team's relationship as the Black Sox players are apparently throwing the games.
You will not hear any modern music in this film, mostly some classic jazz. If you are not into jazz, like me, the soundtrack is pretty forgettable.
The movie has some good cinematography. There is also some nice editing in this movie that helps telling the story pretty well.
Like other movies I've seen recently, this one is based on a book. And like those other movies, this one doesn't make me want to go to the local library to take it out.
One thing this movie lacks is the emotional impact that this movie could have shown with depicting what each of the ball players went through emotionally. Like other scenes, we only see the surface of a few of what some of the players went through.
I would probably say that that this would be a fair third or fourth choice the next time you go to your local video rental place.
