# For Love of the Game (1999)

### reviewed by
Joy Wyse

    Review:                For Love of the Game

Starring: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly

    Directed by:        Sam Raimi

    Review by:        Joy Wyse, the SILVER Screen Critic

This is the third time at bat for Kevin Costner in a movie centering on baseball. Bull Durham and Field of Dreams were both memorable features, but For Love of the Game isn't up to his batting average. The movie doesn't exactly strike out…It's more of a balk. In his defense, it is obvious that Costner loves baseball and he is quite good at it. The home movies at the beginning of the film are actual home movies of him as he played catch with his father and went on to become a little league player.

The storyline begins when Costner, as the forty-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel is faced with the question of retirement. He is scheduled to pitch in this final game of the season for the Detroit Tigers, his team for his entire eighteen-year career. It is basically a `throwaway' game. They are out of contention for the title. The only reason for winning is to beat those New York Yankees. The camaraderie between Chapel and his catcher, Gus Osinski played wonderfully by John C. Reilly, is the real `feel-good' part of the movie. They understand each other.

This could have been a much better movie if they had concentrated on the baseball and ignored the love interest. There was absolutely no charisma between Costner and Kelly Preston, who plays Jane Aubrey, his girl-friend of five years who decides to leave him on this crucial day. We keep suffering through flashbacks of how they met, fought, made up, fought again, etc. Even at the end of the film, the affair isn't really resolved. It's just too syrupy, too sweet, and too long.

All in all, it's a fairly good movie. There's nothing offensive about it. There is a shot of Costner in his jockey shorts, but there's no nudity. Billy and Jane sleep together, but there are no sex scenes. The only touchey-feeley is when the manager pats him on the butt during the game.

If you like baseball, you will like this film, mainly because of some novel scenes, such as the times when the roar of the crowd is silenced and you hear Billy mentally talking to the batters. I do want to see this again and I want my husband to see it. I give it a B+.

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