Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

There are some movies you just know are going to be bad. Ones in which the trailers make positive references to the Bad News Bears. Ones where a white actor hangs out with a bunch of black kids and learns the meaning of life. Ones which star Keanu Reeves.

So when my editor not so subtly suggested I review Hardball ("it's based here in Chicago"), I was filled with the sort of anticipation usually
reserved for root canals and Miss Cleo's infomercial. I called up my friend Garth and offered to pay his way if only he would keep me company through what I assumed would be two hours of horror not seen since Pauly Shore stopped making movies. But Garth can read the tea leaves as well as I can, and he made up some excuse about having to wash his cat. So I trudged down to the nearest megaplex, alone and despondent, already thinking up various zingers I could include in what would be a scathing review.

But a funny thing happened between the time I bought my medium Coke and Raisinettes and when I stepped out of the theater. I was entertained. I was moved. I was reminded that sometimes you can't judge a movie by its trailer. I saw Hardball, and I liked it.

The movie stars Keanu Reeves (The Matrix) as Conor O'Neill, an inveterate gambler who can hold neither a job nor his liquor. We first see O'Neill as he's in the process of losing a $6000 bet (he picked the Bulls), $6000 that he doesn't have and indeed has no hope of getting. Stuck between two loan sharks who know how to wield a baseball bat, Conor turns to his successful friend Jimmy Fleming (Mike McGlone, She's the One) for some help. As it turns out, Jimmy is willing to give him the money--on one condition. Conor has to coach the company's youth baseball team, which is made up of kids from the projects.

At first, O'Neill is antagonistic. It's not that he's scared of going into Cabrini-Green (where the movie is set, though it was shot in the ALBA
housing project), he just doesn't like the kids. He's more interested in selling scalped tickets or placing another bet that will solve all his
problems. Of course, it's not long before his demeanor softens and he's out there serving up batting practice and cheering on his team.

Though that transition is predictable, it feels like a natural one in the movie. Full credit must go to screenwriter John Gatins (Varsity Blues) who
does a nice job of balancing the baseball scenes with Conor's outside life of dissolution, which gives the movie a gravity it needs. This may be a
movie of redemption, but it's not your typical feel-good movie.

More importantly, the young baseball players are an entertaining and compelling group. 'Group' is the operative word. Instead of focusing solely
on one or two of the boys, Gatins's script endues each one with an interesting personality. Andre (Bryan Hearne) is a trash-talking but
lovable character, Jefferson (Julian Griffith) is a heavy-set kid with asthma, Miles (A. Delon Ellis, Jr.) is the pitcher who has to listen to The
Notorious B.I.G. when he plays, Kofi (Michael Perkins) is a good kid struggling in school, and G-Baby (DeWayne Warren) is a little guy who's not really old enough to play but wants to hang out anyway. With expressive dialogue and strong direction from Brian Robbins (Varsity Blues), these and several other characters are transformed from faceless entities into boys we care about. The fact that all of the young actors (most in their film debuts) give solid performances helps enormously.

It also doesn't hurt that Robbins has a strong feel for the difficulties of growing up--for the fear a young boy has walking home after dark in certain
neighborhoods, for the bravado students fake to cover up their fear of failure, for the way boys use physical rough-housing as a form of
communication. Having worked with kids for a number of years, I was deeply impressed with the realistic portrayals in Hardball.

It's safe to say that I am not a member of the Keanu Reeves fan club. His style of acting is so wooden his nickname should be 'petrified,' and only a deal with the devil could explain Keanu's rise through Hollywood's ranks. In Hardball, though, he's actually not bad. Sure, he has a couple of scenes that are classic Keanu (whoa!). Most of the time, however, he's actually passable and even--dare I say it?--good. He has a difficult crying scene near the end of the film, and he pulls it off like a pro. I actually forgot I was watching Keanu, and I'm not sure I can give a higher compliment.

The other adult characters aren't as compelling. Diane Lane (The Perfect Storm) as the love interest has little to work with, and an opposing coach is set up as the catch-all villain. That last aspect is a reminder that Hardball doesn't entirely escape the cliches of its genre.

There has been a lingering controversy over the use of swearing in this movie. Last year Mayor Daley and Paul Vallas protested that most Chicago boys don't talk the way they're depicted in this movie. Then a few weeks ago, the studio decided to remove all of the f-words in the film so that it could get a PG-13 rating. I'm not usually a fan of studio interference, but in this case they've made a wise decision. Hardball doesn't feel like an R-rated film. It may not be appropriate for younger kids (there is a lot of swearing, some of it directed by kids at adult authority figures), but it's the sort of movie that I wouldn't be uncomfortable if a 14- or 15-year-old attended. And they might find a movie that speaks to them more than other, more sanitized fare could. 

J. Robert Parks 9/17/2001