Rated
PG-13 (Language, Sexual References, Some Thematic Material and Smoking)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 51 Minutes
Cast-
Clint
Eastwood-Gus Lobel
Amy
Adams-Mickey Lobel
Justin
Timberlake-Johnny Flanagan
John
Goodman-Pete Klein
Matthew
Lillard-Phillip Sanderson
Robert
Patrick-Vince
Joe
Massingill-Bo Gentry
Jay
Galloway-Rigo Sanchez
Directed
by Robert Lorenz
 |
| Clint Eastwood returns to acting after a four-year hiatus in Robert Lorenz's baseball drama, "Trouble with the Curve." |
While
I'm not privy to every detail when it comes to the politics of our country, I
have to say that the current presidential election has been a major source of
amusement but nothing can compare to
Clint Eastwood's rambling ten-minute speech at this year's Republican National
Convention, where the venerable actor began addressing an empty chair representing
President Obama. The bizarrely ad-libbed speech immediately went viral online
and led to the creation of a Twitter handle called 'Invisible Obama' where
people began posting pictures of themselves pointing at empty chairs under the
hashtag 'Eastwooding.' Honestly, even I don't know what he was talking about
but the audience at the convention ate it up whenever a disparaging remark
about Obama was made. Whatever his political beliefs may be, Eastwood remains
an accomplished actor and director in my eyes but his latest film,
"Trouble with the Curve," is not
the comeback we were all hoping for. Last year saw the release of
"Moneyball" from Columbia Pictures/Sony, a baseball drama that went
on to earn widespread critical acclaim with 95%
on Rotten Tomatoes and six nominations at the 84th Academy Awards, including
Best Actor and Supporting Actor nods for Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. Warner
Brothers is clearly hoping to replicate that same success with "Trouble
with the Curve," which marks Eastwood's first starring role after a four
year hiatus. Although Eastwood, Amy Adams, and even Justin Timberlake give solid
performances, "Trouble with the Curve" suffers from a formulaic and
clichéd script that fails to differentiate itself from similar sports dramas.
Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) is an aging baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves in
Georgia who's in danger of losing his job as others in his profession
increasingly rely on computer programs to keep track of player performance. His
best friend and colleague Pete Klein (John Goodman) tries to defend Gus but an
up-and-coming hotshot named Phillip Sanderson (Matthew Lillard) finds the
veteran scout clinging to an obsolete system and calls for his removal. Gus
learns that he is slowly losing his sight to glaucoma yet continues to insist
that there isn't anything wrong with him. Letting him prove that he can still
do his job, the Atlanta Braves send Gus to a small town in North Carolina to
scout a promising young high school player named Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill). Worried
about his friend's declining health, Pete pays a visit to Gus' estranged
daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) and convinces her to accompany her father on the
trip to make sure he is all right despite the fact that she is in the middle of
an important case at the law firm she works for. If she succeeds, she'll be
made partner. Arriving in North Carolina, Gus and Mickey run into another baseball
scout named Johnny Flanagan (Justin Timberlake), a former pitcher that Gus had initially
scouted for the Braves. Traded to the Boston Red Sox, Johnny's career came to
an abrupt end when he tore his rotator cuff. Now he is a scout like Gus and
aspires to be a sports broadcaster. Despite resenting her father for neglecting
her all these years, Mickey decides to take this opportunity to try and mend
her relationship with him but Gus continues to keep his daughter at arm's
length. Meanwhile, Johnny takes a liking to Mickey and tries to win her over
despite her unresolved family issues.
Clint Eastwood may not be talking to an
empty chair but his character does something equally as strange in the
beginning of the film: whispering to his penis in an attempt to urinate due to
an inflamed prostate. Performances notwithstanding, "Trouble with the
Curve" features a thoroughly predictable story where its characters are
little more than clichés, or worse, caricatures. Unlike "Moneyball,"
which focused on the Oakland Athletics' general manager fighting against an
outdated system, Robert Lorenz's film instead outright rejects any new ideas in
favor of maintaining the status quo, where scouts judge potential prospects by
intuition alone rather than using statistics or computer algorithms. Having
served as both producer and assistant director to a number of Clint Eastwood
films, Lorenz is making his directorial debut along with rookie writer Randy
Brown. While the script isn't terrible
per se, it's just so generic and by-the-numbers. The drama never rings true
because it reeks of artifice, as if Brown was just ticking boxes off a
checklist. Used as a backdrop, audiences do not have to familiar with the
intricacies of baseball to follow the film as it's primarily concerned with the
estranged relationship between Gus and his daughter, Mickey (named after Mickey
Mantle). Similar to Walt Kowalski from 2008's "Gran Torino" but
without the edge, Gus' old man grouchiness leads to some repetitive scenes
where he will get into an argument with his daughter, she gets frustrated and
storms off, and minutes later she's back with him to do it all over again. That
summarizes all the drama in a nutshell. Mickey at least has some measure depth
thanks to the charming Amy Adams but her character arc offers no surprises.
She's the standard emotionally-unavailable workaholic, an ambitious lawyer who
wants to be made partner at her law firm but you just know that she's going to be forced to choose between her job and
her family. That's not even a spoiler! The romance between her and Johnny hits
the expected beats with the two bonding over their love of baseball and yes,
the script even throws a wrench in their growing relationship to make way for
the tacked on, completely unrealistic, 'happy ending.'
Despite its all-star
cast, "Trouble with the Curve" is no better than all the
manufactured, generic tripe that appears on the Hallmark Channel. Clint
Eastwood is a living Hollywood legend and while his character of Gus is nothing
more than a giant walking caricature, he's still fun to watch as he grumbles
about the 'Interweb' and refers to yoga as 'voodoo.' However, I just find it
disappointing that he would cap off his 50-year acting career with this film as such material is really
beneath him. I sincerely hope that he comes out of hiatus fast enough and star
in a film that will remind audiences of what a great and talented actor he is,
just to show the young ones how it's done! Amy Adams actually manages to
partially rise above the clichéd material, giving an honest performance and
trying hard to make Mickey come across as a real
individual. Justin Timberlake's acting certainly pales in comparison to his
co-stars but he makes up for it on sheer enthusiasm alone. The rest of the cast
includes Matthew Lillard, who dials up Phillip's douchiness to cartoonish
levels and John Goodman in a thankless role as Gus' staunchest supporter.
"Trouble with the Curve" was released on September 21, 2012 to mixed
reviews with 53% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics agreed that it was 'predictable
and somewhat dramatically underwhelming, [but the film] benefits from Clint
Eastwood's grizzled charisma and his easy chemistry with a charming Amy Adams.'
While it was expected to lead the box office despite three other competing
films, "Trouble with the Curve" instead landed in third place with a
middling $12.2 million debut. No, it was not that people were turned off by his
shenanigans at the Republic National Convention but more likely to do with
general audience disinterest. Plus, the baseball movie genre has never
attracted huge crowds despite being called 'America's Favorite Pastime.' Still,
this little setback is unlikely to hurt Eastwood as there are plenty of people
in Hollywood ready and willing to work for and with him. "Trouble with the
Curve" is neither a good film nor a bad one but its strict adherence to
formula will elicit little more than a shrug from viewers. Those looking for
simple escapism will enjoy it but for others, you'd best go see something else
like "The Master." As for Clint Eastwood, he's proven himself as an
actor and director but I'm still
waiting for that career capping performance that will make my day.
Final
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
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