For Love of the Game Movie Review

For Love of the Game (1999)

Rent For Love of the Game on Amazon Video // Buy the novel
Written by: Michael Shaara (novel), Dana Stevens (screenplay)
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone, Brian Cox, J.K. Simmons, Domenick Lombardozzi
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
After nineteen years of playing the game he's loved, Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel has to decide if he's going to risk everything and leave it all on the field for one last game.

Verdict
This is a romance movie with a little bit of baseball thrown in. It doesn't do either very well. Until the end of the movie, most of the baseball is a close up of Costner as Chapel talking to himself. The concept is great, but Chapel needs to dig through memories that made him who he is. Let's see flashbacks that are more than just his relationship with his girlfriend. This is his last game, and I want to see a life flashing before your eyes scenario. I want to see his victories and defeats and how all of them brought him to this point. I want to see camaraderie with teammates. We don't get that.
Skip it.

Review
This shows the end of a baseball career, contrasting with Costner's earlier movie and fan favorite Bull Durham, about trying to make it to the major leagues. Sugar is a great compliment to both about not making it to the big leagues, though it doesn't have Costner.

I love baseball, so any baseball related movie gets a watch. This has a great introduction, showing Chapel in little league and making his way to the major leagues. It's a dream sequence for an older generation that longed to play in the majors.

Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston play Billy Chapel and Jane Aubrey.

This is a great concept, a baseball player in his last game relives his life and memories in a stream of a consciousness. The problem is that memories are mostly relegated to his romance with his longtime girlfriend. The baseball portions are static. Chapel is on the mound talking, and I wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or other players. No one ever acknowledges him talking. These parts feel like acting and not natural, a monologue performance disconnected from what's happening.
I wanted to see some kind of fielding play. Based on what we see, Chapel is striking everyone out because we don't even see bat connect to ball. Actual baseball would add a lot of action to the movie. He's not striking everyone out, so for most of the movie the baseball action is omitted.

One of my issues is that Chapel is working in his wood shop in the off season. You know what's going to happen, he gets injured. It's stupid. A character should have told him just that. Wait until you retire since his hands are his money maker. Of course the injury makes him mad at the world and he pushes his girlfriend away.

My biggest issue might be the opposing batter laying down a bunt in the seventh inning. There's an unspoken rule about breaking up a perfect game. Chapel hasn't allowed any hits or walks. No one has reached base and that's a rare feat. With all the talking Chapel does, he should have grumbled about it, even if he does forgive it.

John C. Reilly and Kevin Costner play Gus Sinski and Billy Chapel.

I want memories from baseball too. Let's see his top moments and his biggest mistakes. The movie needs more. With his memories being just about his girlfriend, the movie is doing us a disservice. We're closing in on the end before we see any baseball with a fielder actually making a play on screen. That's too long to wait for what's masquerading as a baseball movie. This final game could be a accumulation of everything good and bad on the field and off for Chapel. The end of this is slightly better because Chapel is tired and can't pitch to an elite level. He has to rely on his teammate. It's playing into our emotions. We want him to win, and he has to overcome an obstacle. I wish there were more memories of his teammates.

This is a great idea, but the plot is the same as many other romance movies. Making this darker would help. It could be about how Chapel had to forgo a family or even his family to play ball. Baseball takes a lot of time. It could contrast his victories on the field with his defeats off the field. When it comes down to it, I don't think this was written by someone that knows baseball. It doesn't feel authentic and that seventh inning bunt is proof.