Mr. Baseball (1992)

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Jack Elliot (Tom Selleck), former World Series MVP for the New York Yankees, is traded to the Chunichi (Nagoya) Dragons of Japan. Although Elliot is on the downside of his career, he has not lost all of his playing skills. Now the trade doesn't stir well with the drinking, smoking, and womanizing egomaniac. Knowing little about Japanese culture, cuisine, and mannerisms, the gaijin (foreign) Elliot's awful attitudes form the basic plot of this not unlikeable movie. You just know that the American will quickly butt heads with unflappable Dragon manager Uchiyama (Ken Takakura). Meanwhile, as athletes attract attractive woman, Hiroko Uchiyama (Aya Takanashi) will become Elliot's love interest. But Hiroko, who is no bimbo, is an advertising professional who makes commercials for Japanese television. So can the love interest last? Along the way Elliot would do well to heed the advice of new Dragon teammate Max "Hammer" Dubois (Dennis Haysbert), not a Frenchmen but an African-American. Dubois, earlier traded to the Dragons, had the gumption to learn Japanese ways and some of the language. Fitting in as well as he can, Dubois is resigned to his challenging situation. Conversely, as Elliot is green in Japan, he is accompanied by an interpreter, Yoji Nishimura (Toshi Shioya), who is wise enough to clean up the American's sardonic comments for the Japanese press. Overall, the movie does well in depicting the Japanese sports culture: manager-player interaction, the fanfare of the large crowds (which appear genuine), umpire esteem, corporate pressure on the managers, and the voracious sports media. Also note the importance placed on saving face, which means that certain on-field events are sometimes compromised. The climax involves the big game between the Dragons and their traditional rivals who always seem to beat them, the Yomiuri Giants. Will Elliot find redemption? Watch and find out! PS: Know that the Japanese certainly love their baseball, and have played it a long time. The sport was introduced in Japan in the late 19th century! In 1934 Manager Connie Mack, Babe Ruth (called "Beibu Rusu"), Lou Gehrig, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, OSS spy Moe Berg, and other Major League Baseball all-stars visited and were greeted by huge and enthusiastic crowds.

I generally agree with the overall user ratings at this site, or at least find them plausible, but I find the 5.7 rating for "Mr. Baseball" (1992) even more ludicrous that the 7.8 accorded to it's imitator, Bill Murray's "Lost in Translation" (2002).I call the latter Bill Murray's movie, because like most of his movies it is at bottom little more than a situation comedy contrived to create funny scenes, with deadpan Murray as the straight man. The situation, of course - the essential culture clash that all gaijin cultures have with the Japanese - is inherently funny, so "Lost in Translation" is undeniably a funny movie, but it has virtually no plot, and the other characters, though played adequately by Scarlett Johanson, and Giovanni Ribisi, are little more than props for Mr. Murray. However, the movie (Dir: Sophia Coppola) is finely crafted and that counts for something. And I suppose that artful cinematography and other cinematic esoterica have impressed the critics, and that their views have bled off into those of the hoi polloi, and given them cover for their racist guffaws at the silly Japanese.Meanwhile, the standard sports movie plot of "Mr. Baseball" has provided its critics with an excuse to dismiss the movie because it annoyingly succeeds in actually bridging the cultural gap, without in any way sidelining the inherent humor in the situation - which doesn't, as it turns out, need any kind of exaggerated boost from Mr. Murray's brand of snide. "Mr. Baseball" actually provides insight into the Japanese culture, and thereby also into our own American culture, which IMO is the chief benefit of foreign travel, and it manages to stop just short, at the end, from the improbable contrived Hollywood ending. All in all, "Mr. Baseball" manages to artfully and plausibly traverse the tightrope of our expectations, and on my own subjective "rewatchable" scale, it beats "Lost in Translation" all hollow.

"Japan takes the best from around the world and makes it their own", while that may be true, it applies to all except for one thing, that being,.....Major league baseball....but not to worry, "Mr Baseball" is there to try and change all that. But just who will change who, is the part of the movie that really makes it rock! Tom Selleck is one of my favorite actors and really shines-on in his comedic roles. The storyline may be true to life, however the subplot is dead-on. The Japanese people are a gentle, respectful people with ways and traditions very different than those of Western Society. All of these elements and obstacles combine to make for one truly enjoyable, funny film. It's definitely worth the watch!

I agree with BigAlC - this movie actually prepared me for a lot of the cultural differences and practices before I went to live in Japan for a year in 1993. Tom Selleck does a fantastic job here, as always, and the movie is greatly humorous and educational. I'm a big fan of Tom Selleck's, and he blesses this part with his usual charm and charisma to this part, bringing the film to life in a way I can't imagine any other actor being able to pull off. This film featured some first-rate Japanese actors, and it was highly entertaining to watch them as they interacted with Selleck - I can imagine the fun he had during the actual filming of the movie - Japan's an awesome place to go, whether you want to party, sight-see or just try to take everything in.