A League of Their Own Movie Review

A League of Their Own (1992)

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Written by: Kim Wilson & Kelly Candaele (story), Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel (screenplay)
Directed by: Penny Marshall
Starring: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell
Rated: PG
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Plot
Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amid their own growing rivalry.

Verdict
It's a fun movie that manages drama and humor in equal measure. We get a sibling rivalry, a struggling sports league, and a has-been athlete. This combines these elements into a family friendly, wholesome movie. What starts slowly, soon finds the plot. These women have to prove they can play, and they're not just filling in.
Watch It.

Review
With an unimpressive opening, a daughter coaxes her older mother to do something and go somewhere. We're not sure where until the mother is handed a baseball glove. The mother plays it off as not that important. If you know this movie, you know what this is. The movie is bookended by the present day as the main plot concerns women playing baseball in the 1940s. As soon as mom steps on the baseball field, we flash back.

Lori Petty, Geena Davis play Kit, Dottie

Women are recruited to play baseball and fill the sports gap during World War II. The fledgling league wants to recruit Dottie (Geena Davis) but not her younger sister Kit (Lori Petty). Kit wants to play, making a deal that if she convinces Dottie, Kit can join too. This is only the beginning of the sister rivalry as Kit feels like she's always playing in her more skilled sister's shadow. They help recruit a few other women on the way to try outs, eventually making it on to the Rockford Peaches. The team is managed by fictional former slugger and current drunk Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks). Jimmy doesn't want to be there, hired only due to his past glory.

The women must not only play, but build the league too as fans at first discount their ability. As soon as the league seems sustainable, the prospect that the war may ends means their efforts may be for naught. They won over the fans and even their manager Jimmy wo actually cares about the games and his players. That's a stark contrast to his outlook at the beginning of the movie.

Geena Davis, Tom Hanks play Dottie, Jimmy Dugan

Typical for sports movies, we get the big game at the end. The twist here is that Dottie and Kit are facing off. One of the enduring questions of this is movie is whether Dottie lost to Kit on purpose or by accident. I've always argued Dottie lost on purpose. Dottie was the best player in the league, but she didn't want it as much as Kit. She wasn't willing to sacrifice a life with her husband. We had never seen Dottie make a mistake. She knows Kit feels trapped in her sister's shadow. Dot gave it away, and if she didn't then it's just plot convenience.

There's plenty of comedy in the movie with Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna often providing comic relief. The tone of the movie takes a comical approach that is much lighter than it could have been. That makes this fun despite the serious plot elements. With the rating, it's something for the entire family. It provides plenty of quotable moments, none more famous than "There's no crying in baseball!"