Official Synopsis
Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) has been one of the best scouts in baseball for decades, but, despite his efforts to hide it, age is starting to catch up with him. Nevertheless, Gus—who can tell a pitch just by the crack of the bat—refuses to be benched for what could be the final innings of his career.
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He may not have a choice. The front office of the Atlanta Braves is starting to question his judgment, especially with the country’s hottest batting phenom on deck for the draft. The one person who might be able to help is also the one person Gus would never ask: his daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), an associate at a high-powered Atlanta law firm whose drive and ambition has put her on the fast track to becoming partner. Mickey has never been close to her father, who was ill-equipped to be a single parent after the death of his wife. Even now, in the rare moments they share, he is too easily distracted by what Mickey assumes is his first love: the game.
Against her better judgment, and over Gus’s objections, Mickey joins him on his latest scouting trip to North Carolina, jeopardizing her own career to save his. Forced to spend time together for the first time in years, each makes new discoveries—revealing long-held truths about their past and present that could change their future.
Timberlake is Johnny Flanagan, a rival scout who has his sights on a career in the announcer’s booth…and has eyes for Mickey. The main cast also includes John Goodman as Pete Klein, Gus’s old friend and boss, and Matthew Lillard as Phillip Sanderson, the Braves’ associate director of scouting.
Simply put, this movie was broken up into two different stories that didn’t work well when combined. This is the major flaw of the movie, which is sad considering the content when separated.
One of the pieces featured the very severed relationship between Gus and Mickey. Gus sent Mickey to live with her uncle and aunt, and then ultimately to boarding school because he couldn’t keep track of her on the road. While I won’t give it away, the excuse finally given to Mickey as to ‘why’ she was sent away, just simply doesn’t fit the lighthearted feel of the film. The movie carries itself through a light comedy feel and then changes to a very light drama (when the abandonment is brought up), but shifts unexpectedly to a very dark drama (when the reasoning is revealed) way too quickly. This is the first time I said out loud, “Good God” when the reason of abandonment is revealed to Mickey. It is very much out of left field, and doesn’t fit at all. Simply put, it’s extremely too dark for this movie.
Anyway, had baseball not been the majority of the film, this drama could have been a movie of its own. Mixed in with Gus’ own troubled career, and the game of baseball, it simply doesn’t gel together. I would have been much happier with the movie had it been a less dramatic reason for abandonment that gets put behind the two (or at least sorta fixed) much earlier in the film, so the movie can make way for baseball.
Speaking of which, the baseball side of the film is brilliant. It reminded me of the Disney cartoon where Paul Bunyan (lumberjack) goes up against a new invention called a ‘chainsaw’. Old ways versus new ways, although in that instance technology wins (but only be a centimeter). I digress a bit, Gus’ intuition and ears go head-to-head with Matthew Lillard’s Phillip Sanderson’s computer to see who is right about a brute hitter named Bo Gentry. I loved this portion of the film is fun to watch, especially when you realize how bad things have gotten for Gus’ eyes. It has a classic 80s film feel to it, where the bad guy who doesn’t give the effort is not going to win.
As you can imagine, once you try to add the drama to this lighthearted comedy, you get a movie that simply can’t maintain itself. It’s unbalanced with a drama heavy angle, which weighs down any sort of comedy or lighthearted ‘old fart’ jokes that may come with it. Again, if the dramatic portion of the film was absent or at least brought down about six notches, then it could work. As it is, you can’t mix the two sides together, as they work as well as oil and water. The drama is way too dark for the lightheartedness of the other side. It’s a shame because Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake and Clint Eastwood bring their ‘A’ game.
As for the Blu-ray portion of this film, it was as perfect as a Nolan Ryan pitch in his heyday. You get no graininess or artifacts in the picture. The movie looks stunning during the nighttime shots, especially when Timberlake and Adams go skinny-dipping (it’s not because they’re going skinny-dipping). No color banding during the darker scenes, and plenty of detail in faces, environments and even the two hotdogs that Adams consumes in the film (it made me want to get a hotdog instantly). The only knock I have about the Blu-ray quality is that the film was shot in a bland tone. You get a lot of gray tint in the shots, much like you would find in Invictus and a few other Clint Eastwood films. I’m not sure if this was by choice or on purpose, but it does tend to bring down the quality of the HD, simply because it looks a bit bland.
The movie comes to you in DTS HD 5.1 and features an aspect ratio of 2.4:1.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
· Trouble With the Curve: Rising Through the Ranks
· Trouble With the Curve: For the Love of the Game (on the DVD as well)
I thoroughly enjoyed the two features, though I was sad to see there was an absence of commentary (man, that would have been nice). The first feature is a sit down discussion with director Robert Lorenz and Clint Eastwood, very good stuff. The second feature is with Justin Timberlake and Amy Adams. Again, I would have loved to see commentary on this one. Maybe some John Goodman and Clint Eastwood commentary. In the end, the features are good, but it needed a bit more padding.
“Trouble With the Curve” available on Blu-ray Combo pack, DVD and for download 12/18!