After last year's successful and well-crafted film "Moneyball" it was only fitting that the Hollywood Studios would rush to bring out another baseball film to maintain the audience interest and hype. The resulting product is "Trouble with the Curve," a film that is the antithesis to last year's baseball drama. Where "Moneyball" was subtle and nuanced, "Curve" is sloppy, obvious, and manipulative; where "Moneyball" seemed to revel in its performances, "Curve" seems to suffocate them.
"Trouble with the Curve" sets out to tell the story of an aging baseball scout Gus (Clint Eastwood) whose contract with the Atlanta Braves is about to expire in three months. The new scouting squad of the Braves led by Tom Silver (Matthew Lillard) also questions Gus' inability to stay up to date with new scouting technology, something which puts Gus' job in jeopardy. But the problems continue to mount for poor Gus who finds out he is suffering from problems with his vision (which would indicate that he can't scout properly) and his estranged daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) wants to get back into his life. And we must not forget the nightmares he has of a dark horse and shack that haunt him throughout the film.
Despite Gus' difficulties he still has a buddy on the Braves scouting staff in the form of his old friend Pete Klein (John Goodman) who convinces everyone to get Gus on the road to scout out the latest talent Bo Gentry for the second overall pick in the upcoming draft. Meanwhile Mickey has been trying to become a partner at the firm she is working at and has a big case. But when finding out that Gus is ill and needs help on the scout, she runs off to North Carolina to help her dad. What ensues is a series of scrambled plot clichés and contrivances that make "Trouble with the Curve" a mishmash of generic Hollywood fare.
The main problem with the film is in the writing and the directing. Writer Randy Brown must have had the "Hollywood Book of Cliches and Stereotypes (if it exists)" sitting right next to him as he put together this script. He needs to create a bad scout who is the antithesis of Gus so that we care more for Gus? Well let's pull out the stereotypical John Silver, a young guy who sits behind his computer and questions Gus' abilities at every turn. And so that we hate him even more, let's make him a sexist who questions women's abilities at scouting baseball. Do we need to create a conflict so that Mickey's ability to get the partnership is put in jeopardy? Well then let's add a rival lawyer named Todd who is an inconsequential character that makes an appearance in all of two scenes. And let's make him snotty and annoying and have him question Mickey's life style so that we can empathize with her character even more. Do we need a love interest? Let's throw in Justin Timberlake's poorly written Johnny Flanagan who is a failed-pitcher-turned-scout that aspires to be a broadcaster, but ultimately has no consequence on the story in any of the above mentioned capacities except as a stock love interest.
But the stereotypical personages are not the only problems with the script. Brown must assume that the audience attending the screenings of this film has no knowledge of baseball because he depends on their ignorance to get through his contrivances. Who is really going to believe that a serious organization like the Boston Red Sox is going to put the decision of their first overall pick in the hands of an amateur scout? Or worse yet. Who is going to believe that any major league baseball GM is going to make a pick based on computer information and a scout watching games? Wouldn't they want to meet with some of the top end talent to make sure they have the character to complement the skill? What good is talent if the player has no drive to improve and work as a team member? Brown sets up Bo Gentry as a pretentious baseball player who has his sights set not on a World Series Championship but simply on endorsement deals and celebrity. One initially believes that this character problem could come into play when the scouts must make their decision but it ultimately becomes Brown's latest manipulative tactic to make the audience root against Gentry, who is nothing more than another cliché, and by extension Silver (Gus' rival scout).
Gus' vision problem also winds up being a silly plot convenience that is brought around when necessary. He has blurred vision and then he doesn't for the next 20 minutes. It comes back in the middle of the film and never comes back. The entire idea is established to show that Gus is losing his touch, but at the last moment, Brown introduces the fact that his vision was not really a problem because Gus can "hear" to scout out whether a player is going to be good. It brings up the question as to which is more incredible: the fact that the vision was never an issue to begin with and thus pointless or that the Gus could be blind and would still be a top notch scout?
But Brown does his worst in structuring the script as the emotional climax of the film comes 30 minutes before the grand finale and showcases a confrontation between father and daughter as they come to terms with their relationship. Here Brown decides to reveal the backstory and finally show us what these strange dreams represent and in doing so, he concocts an outlandish flashback sequence that has no thematic relevance and no real emotional impact on the proceedings. But after that is all wrapped up, he decides to bring in another secondary plot with new characters simply to tie up the movie in a nice bow. The added plot development is predictable form the start as the new characters are initially glimpsed at, but by "fleshing them out" in at the last 20 minutes, he makes the story structure feel rushed, uneven, and completely unrealistic.
And those complaints do not even include the dialogue which is obvious, repetitive and reliant on one-liners to end every scene. It seemed as if Brown had no faith that his audience understands what is going on and needs information repeated to them so as to make sense of the film. He also seems to think that constantly having men talk down to women and question their abilities are the perfect way to further vilify the "bad guys" and win sympathy for the good guys. And wait until you find out what the title really means. It turns out to be as empty as the story it tells.
First time director Robert Lorenz does little to improve upon the material offered to him and puts excellent talent to waste. His collaboration with editors Joel Cox and Gary Roach is extremely disappointing to say the least. Take one scene where Mickey is talking to her potential law partners in the law building. There is a lot of quick jargon thrown back and forth between the four characters in the room and instead of holding steady with the cutting, Lorenz cuts to a new character every time a new line of dialogue is spoken. This creates a frenzied feel to what should be a straight forward scene. More importantly it gets rid of the focus on the central character in the scene which is Mickey and all her reactions to what is said are essentially voided out with the constant cuts.
In another scene, Gus is talking to the tombstone of his dead wife. It is a touching scene until he starts singing the lyrics to "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine" which come off as a bit on the nose. But then Lorenz over does it by having the actual song come in at the end of the scene in cringe worthy fashion.
Eastwood brings back his broken down, angry Walt Kowalski from "Gran Torino," but Gus lacks the depth and development of Kowalski. One is led to believe that the backstory behind why his daughter and him are so estranged would lend some depth, but it is borderline laughable and muddles his character. However, he still knows how to deliver one liners and is still a strong presence on screen.
Amy Adams brings her charm and the toughness from her Academy Award nominated performance in "The Fighter," but also suffers from a lack of depth. Her character is the only one to truly develop throughout the story and her chemistry with the other two leads is fantastic, but her situations are so generic and repetitive that it overshadows whatever strong contributions she makes.
Justin Timberlake is an underrated talent, but he suffers from a character that is poorly conceived. He is supposed to be an aspiring broadcaster, but Timberlake is forced to show off his broadcasting skills in awkward situations and seems uncomfortable in those moments. He spends a good portion of the film repeating the same sermon to Mickey that she should make the move to reconcile with her dad. He also has to roll out a plethora of pickup lines during his courtship with Mickey before leaving for the final act of the film only to return for a predictable grand finale.
Academy Award nominated composer Marco Beltrami provides an irritating sound track of generic music that enters and exits many times throughout scenes simply to remind audiences that they must now feel "this emotion" at this moment.
The film is ultimately standard Hollywood fare: polished visuals but a hackneyed script and manipulative music. Despite strong performances from the leads, there is little that these great talents can to do lift this film above simply being passable. Some audiences will love it simply because of the one liners and the good performances, but they will soon forget it.
"Trouble with the Curve" comes out in theaters nationwide on Friday September 21.
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