 |
 |
| Directed by Sam Raimi; Starring Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone, Brian Cox, Vince Skully, Steve Lyons, and Ted Raimi |
I know that he is generally considered the greatest horror film director since a young Kentucky raised director set a killer loose in Haddonfield, Illinois, and changed the face of serial killer gore fests for decades, but Sam Raimi has never really bode well with me. I’ll admit that he is a great director of horror films (just look at the ultra-fun, Corman-esque direction of the Evil Dead series), it is just that none of his films really turn out much better than his good direction. He always makes the films look good, it is just that what he has to make is a pretty bad film from the up-start. Look at Darkman, or the intriguing yet dismal Quick and the Dead, these are very well directed, but the story, acting, and over-all feel of the films are poor. That had always been my look at Raimi until I saw A Simple Plan last year. Using a terrific drama of greed and family values, Raimi finally found the film that was great and could be compared to his direction (what other man could get away with his humongous shoot-out halfway through the film?). I truly loved A Simple Plan, enough for it to attain a space on my top ten list at the end of the year. I thought that maybe this was a new start for Raimi, having produced such a cult following with The Evil Dead series that he could do some work that was just as artsy, just better quality. That was until I saw a trailer for his new film For Love of the Game. I had some hope for it since it was Raimi, but it still looked like Bull Durham II, and I hated Bull Durham (with maybe the exceptions of Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins). Needless to say, For Love of the Game turned out being what I expected.
I found the film to be the same type of tepid romantic dramedy that I have sat through countless times. Billy Chapel is a forty year-old baseball pitcher that looks to be losing his two prized possessions: his five year girlfriend Jane (Preston) and his beloved Detroit Tigers. He remembers all the times he had spent with Jane and her daughter (Malone; arguably one of the worst young actresses there are) as well as the 22-year affair he has had playing for the Tigers’ owner (Cox). All this goes through his mind via flashbacks as he thinks about the pain he is getting pitching in what could be his final game before retirement, a game which could very well turn out to be a perfect game.
The film is full of plot holes and extreme predictability. Every point of the film seems written in the stone which is called formula filmmaking. Raimi, try as he might, could not make this material seem fresh or exciting. I’ll admit that there were some fun Raimi moments, most notable being when Billy blocks out the screaming crowd in his mind, but that is used too many times afterwards that it gets old. Preston and Costner give equally flat performances, as Malone gives the same performance she gave just as unconvincingly in Stepmom. The always great Brian Cox is enjoyable to watch, though he is unbelievably underused. The only thing in the film that never gets old and gets sufficient screen time is the performance of John C. Reilly, whom as always is hilarious. The fact of the matter is that as much as it may hurt to say it, it looks like Sam Raimi has gone into film direction recession.
