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For Love of the Game

1999

Sam Raimi

Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone ...

5.1

3,061

Romance. Drama Baseball great Billy Chapel, 40, wants nothing more than to reconnect with his one-time lover, Jane Aubrey. On the morning he's to pitch the last game of the season, she tells him she's leaving that evening for a job in London; he also learns that the Detroit Tigers' new owners plan to trade him. As he pitches that night, he must decide whether to accept the trade or quit the game he loves, and between innings, he recalls meeting Jane, ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"It's the most lugubrious and soppy love story in many a moon, a step backward for director Sam Raimi after 'A Simple Plan' (…) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"	NEG
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"The baseball footage, superbly shot at Yankee Stadium by cinematographer John Bailey ('Living Out Loud'), sets the scene for a fastball that never comes."	NEU
United States	Lawrence Van Gelder The New York Times	"Routine entertainment, because the overloaded love story doesn't strike sparks or really tug the heartstrings, and the script by Dana Stevens pivots on behavior that sometimes seems more convenient than character-driven"	NEG
United States	Stephen Hunter The Washington Post	"The baseball half of the story just slightly works (...) Still, the movie's not really about baseball but about feelings (...) Nothing in ['the feelings half'] of the film works."	NEU
United States	Robert Koehler Variety	"Costner is as uneven as the storytelling itself (...) Tech credits raise several moments to majestic heights"	NEU
United Kingdom	Simon Braund Empire	"Even if it's an uneven, often overwrought piece of work, it's nevertheless compelling evidence that given the right role, Costner can still cut it in the majors (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU

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