For Love of the Game (1999)

hyped garbage

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

For a lot of Americans baseball is life affirming. There are even people out there--and at times I confess that I am one of them--who go to high school baseball games just because watching a game where the outcome doesn't matter to you is even more relaxing than watching a game you actually care about.To some people it might be strange, but to others, hey, it's baseball and there is really no better way to spend an afternoon is there?Some Americans understand it to be an addiction. Even now, as I write this, if I look out my apartment window I can see the softball diamond that played a key role in why I chose this cramped little hovel over so many other options. In the summer, when I get off of work, I can play a game of Frogger and risk my life crossing a busy street to see a game.So when a movie about baseball comes out, no matter how good or bad it is, we feel compelled to go and see it.And there a pluses and minuses. This film came out in September. There should be a law requiring all baseball movies to come out in the winter, in those long months between the crushing defeat of the Cub's last lose and the new spring hope that this year the curse might be broken.As they say in Boston, "good luck to you and your team."But then, it was just broken wasn't it? The end is nigh and Chicago is still here. I thought for sure that it would be destroyed in a riot worse than anything soccer has ever produced.But that is another story.The fact is that there are good and bad baseball movies.Most of the good ones star Kevin Costner don't they?Bull DurhamField of DreamsFor the Love of the GameThe Sandlot (which didn't star Costner)The title really explains everything you need to know about it. It's a movie made for people that love baseball. One about a perfect game.The bottom line is that it is a movie about baseball and though it isn't as good as "Bull Durham" it is still about baseball. If you love it you love it. If you don't, well, it's still a good movie, but not as life affirming, not as wonderful, not as beautiful, not as...well, not as summer.

For Love of the Game (1999): Dir: Sam Raimi / Cast: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Brian Cox, Jena Malone: Drama about loving something enough to give it up. It regards a man searching for where he wants to be and where he should be. It regards decisions and regrets and stars Kevin Costner as a baseball pitcher of nineteen years who may be pitching his final game due to an arm injury. His mind is on his girlfriend who is leaving for Europe for a better job position. Costner reflects upon their relationship through the entire game. Predictable with some unnecessary elements. Despite clichés the baseball footage is fantastic with director Sam Raimi pulling off suspense with regards to the fate of the leads. This is an interesting departure for a director known for creating the Evil Dead movies. Costner's wrestles through frustration for what matters most. He is in position to give up one love for the greater gain of another. Kelly Preston is well cast as his girlfriend whom he first encounters having car trouble. While the leads pull through, the supporting roles are typical and flat mainly placed for cliché moments. Among them are John C. Reilly and Brian Cox who can do better but get reduced to under written roles that take second fiddle to the leads. With that one complaint aside this contains strong themes regarding love for what matters most. Score: 8 / 10

I've gotta give this 5 stars because I liked it just as much as I did when I saw it (way) back in 99. It's stood up well. Kevin Costner is excellent as ageing Detroit Tigers pitcher 'Billy Chapel' and looks just like one of the pro's out on the field.Told for the most part through flashbacks, this starts at the end and then goes back, as Billy "clear's the mechanism" and begins pitching in what could potentially be his last game, as his team has just been sold and the new owners have plans to trade him. Throughout this game he reflects on his life, 18yr career and on-again-off-again relationship with 'Jane' (Kelly Preston) which has also reached a impasse. For the most part this is baseball movie and it gets super exciting as Billy unknowingly nears a perfect game, debates retirement and Jane winds her way through the airport on her way to England.I'm not sure what the critics ever thought of this but I thought it was fantastic; great story, told in a clever way, sweet well portrayed romance and just a classic sports movie. I also enjoyed John C Reilly as Billy's catcher and his relationship with former owner (Brian Cox.) The game has changed. 6/21/14

For Love of the Game is a sports drama movie that was based on the novel of the same title by Michael Shaara.The film stars Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston.The story follows the a perfect game performance of an aging star baseball pitcher as he reminisces about his career and his relationship with his on-and-off girlfriend, while pitching his final game.The screenplay was written by Dana Stevens and it was directed by Sam Raimi.The story centers on Billy Chapel,who is the star pitcher with the Detroit Tigers, standing on the mound at Yankee Stadium in his last game and throwing what is shaping up to be a perfect game with the help of his best friend and catcher, Gus Osinski. However, Billy is having a hard time keeping his mind on the game; he's come to a crossroads in both his personal and professional lives, and he isn't sure what to do or where to go. He's learned that the Tigers are about to be sold, and the new owners intend to trade him at the end of the season, and that his girlfriend Jane is planning to leave him.But guess what,something else happens.After finishing the perfect game, Billy sits alone in his hotel room as the realization sinks in that everything he has been and done for the past 19 years is over. Despite his amazing accomplishment, he weeps not only for the loss of baseball, but for the other love of his life, Jane. The next morning, Billy goes to the airport to inquire about a flight for London. Jane has missed her flight so she could watch the end of his perfect game. Finding her there waiting for her plane, they embrace and reconcile.The movie is clichéd,contrived and predictable just like most sports movies and apparently most romantic comedies.As one well-known critic was quoted in his review of the film,"Thinking back through the movie, I cannot recall a single thing either character said that was worth hearing in its own right, apart from the requirements of the plot." I totally agree with the said movie reviewer.But what made the movie work is Costner and Preston's convincing professionalism and chemistry together that kept the audience involved and engaged all through out the movie.In the end,it is still worth the view "for love of the game".