For Love of the Game

This was one of those rare events where you find yourself clicking through channels and luck upon the beginning of a movie so engrossing that the world completely stops until the credits roll. This is Costner's greatest performance, with a depth of emotion that we've never seen before.

This is much more than a baseball film. It's a love story about love and baseball, and life and facing the future when you finally "grow up." It's about the choices behind us and the chances ahead.

This is a tale of Kevin Costner's baseball pitcher in his last game as a pro and on the verge of a perfect game. All this is intercut with flashbacks to poignant moments in his life as he contemplates his career, his life and his loves.

Sam Raimi, surprisingly considering his horror leanings, directs very well, if a little schmaltzy toward the end. Costner is great, Kelly Preston is ok and a touch underwritten. John C Reilly offers great support.

Best not to judge the movie too harshly. Just put your phone down and let the warm waves of cheese wash over you as you succumb to the somewhat sappy loveliness.

I had to refrain from standing up and clapping. I am a sucker for a feel good movie and two weeks later I am still smiling. I loved this from start to finish, Kevin Costner does what he does best, baseball related Romantic comedies. I just wish now that everyone would go and see it, but it still seems that 'The Postman' and 'Waterworld' weigh heavily on Mr. Costner's shoulders.

This has to be one of the best movies I have ever watched and watched and... well, you get the picture.It is a revealing account of relationships and feelings and trust. Set during one major league baseball game, a man relives the past five years of his life from the pitchers mound. He realizes, over what may be the course of a perfect game, that his life has been anything but perfect. That the really important things in life are slipping away from him.This movie is full of life, it's sweet. It draws you in and holds your interest. I think the movie was underrated because of the subject matter. A romantic baseball movie? but that's just the surface. This movie goes very deep. If you give it a chance you will see that the reality of the setting and the people are extremely captivating, as well as fun. I can't think of another movie that has made me feel so good and so satisfied at the end. If you like baseball you can't help but love this movie. It's full of the most realistic ball playing I have ever seen in a film.If you like a sweet romance that doesn't have to rely on sex and nudity to tell the story, well, this is it. This has to be my all time favorite movie. I own it on vhs as well as dvd. The spotlight on location is a wonderful feature on both versions. It gives a fun look at the making of aspects. It also shows you interview clips from the professional ball people who were involved in the making of the film. I urge anyone who just wants to relax, enjoy a good story and feel better for watching it, to get this movie .

Why do I love this movie so much? I'm not a baseball fan. I didn't really like FIELD OF DREAMS. And I hated BULL DURHAM. Yet this movie just captivates me every time I watch it.

Part of it is the tight, real-time structure -- the whole movie takes place in a man's head while he pitches a perfect baseball game on the mound. It therefore combines the tension of a thriller with the poignant emotions of an elegy.

But what I loved most about this movie is that there are no clichés. Kevin Costner's character, Billy Chapel, is not a "sports underdog." It's very clear he is a great athlete who has had a great career, and that he can walk away at any time with lots of money and lots of respect. The only reason that pitching the perfect game matters to him is purely for the perfection of his art -- for the love of the game.

At the same time, not all the action is on the baseball diamond. In the romantic drama, Kevin Costner does much more than play the usual Costner "nice guy." Billy Chapel can be cold, egocentric, and difficult -- just like any other creative artist. But he always surrounds himself with people who are strong enough to challenge him and help him stay grounded. It's no exaggeration to say that the supporting cast in this film -- John C. Reilly as the catcher, Kelly Preston as the girl friend, and Jena Malone as the girl friend's adorable teenage daughter -- are very much the stars. They really set Costner up for an unusually mature, disciplined performance. Just the way Chapel's team mates set him up for the perfect game! This movie wasn't that well received by the critics. I remember one frightfully cultured fellow at the NEW YORKER sniffing that Costner's character is "arrogant." Note well that if an artist or an intellectual is cold and demanding, it's okay. But athletes should be jolly, ape like simpletons, the kind who know their place. This complex, poignant movie is actually quite subversive, since it forces you to realize that baseball is a thinking man's game and that athletes (and their working class fans) are not nearly as stupid as the real simpletons who write for the NEW YORKER.

Shocking!!!