FOR LOVE OF THE GAME
For Love Of The Game is co-written by Michael Shaara,
who wrote the book, and Dana Stevens (City
Of Angels). The story opens with Chapel learning in the
same day that his club is being sold, he is being traded to another
team, and his girlfriend of 5 years is leaving him. In a story
typical of Costner films, he is being unjustly dumped on for not
being perfect. And then he goes on to show us that he is
perfect.
Besides being so astonishingly unoriginal as to star Costner,
Raimi's Game suffers from other problems. The choice to
open with Chapel's worst day attempts to make us sympathize with
a character that has not been established yet. Before we know
him well enough to feel anything, we're supposed to be weeping
big salty tears about his two-pronged rejection. I had trouble
caring. And the subsequent flashbacks regarding his stormy relationship
with Jane (Kelly Preston) does no more to establish goodwill.
For instance, here's how they met: he stops on the highway when
he sees her kicking her rental car, and her immediate reaction
to his approach is to dismiss him as another horny motorist. He
says he's just trying to help with her stalled automobile,
but later admits he really knows nothing about cars. So . . .
he is just another horny motorist. She says she
doesn't just jump in the sack with guys she meets on the expressway,
but that's exactly what she does — after she discovers he's
a famous ballplayer. On their first date, Billy promises
to ask only three personal questions. One of them is "How
do you like to be kissed?" Urp.
As the film progresses, we see the story of Billy's diminishing
talent as a pitcher, even though at this game, his last
roar as a Tiger, he doesn't exhibit any signs of the failure everyone's
talking about. In an unbearably stupid gimmick, he achieves focus
by saying to himself, "clear the mechanism," whatever
the heck that means, causing the crowd sounds to fade to a whisper
and everything except the batter and his catcher (John C. Reilly)
to go out of focus. Then he strikes 'em out one by one. And, uh
— why are they trading him again?
The film does have its good points, primarily director Raimi's clever stucture, intercutting between the present (Billy's last game) and the past (his previous games and evolving relationship with Jane). Also helping immeasurably is the performance of teenager Jena Malone (Contact, Stepmom) as Jane's daughter. Malone, when she's finally introduced, provides a satisfying counterbalance to the couple's otherwise boring troubles. Costner's pretend crying is just as nauseating as usual, but he's certainly able to get into these baseball star parts, perhaps because he was one back in high school. Preston is forgettable as "this week's blonde," adding her name to a list of women wooed by this poster boy for the strong, silent type. **½