So I put Trouble With The Curve in my Blu-ray player, trying to satiate my baseball appetite until Spring Training. I was supposed to review it a while ago, but so many different things got in the way. It seems much more appropriate now, however, with the winter meetings over, trades and other backroom deals taking place, and the promise of Spring Training and another season of baseball just around the corner.
Clint Eastwood is Gus, a baseball scout, and we are introduced to him – and it isn’t flattering, as old age is catching up to him. Then his daughter, Mickey, portrayed by Amy Adams, is introduced to audiences, her situation in being up for a major promotion (possibly being made partner in her law firm) and we get a sense of her competitiveness. John Goodman and Robert Patrick are Gus’ bosses, and there’s issues with Gus’ performance as a scout and there is pressure to not exercise his option when it expires in a few months.
So you can sort of guess where this is going. Toss into the mix an ex-pitcher turned scout in the form of actor Justin Timberlake, and you get something that a little less predictable… well, alright, it’s predictable. There’s an easy chemistry between Eastwood and Adams, when Eastwood smiles at 47 minutes into the film, it feels honest.
Directed by longtime Eastwood producer and assistant director Robert Lorenz, it is obvious Eastwood’s easy style rubbed off a bit. There’s a natural flow Trouble With The Curve has that makes it easy to watch. Sure, some of the scenes take a little longer than they should (down at the lake for instance) but overall this feels much like life. I looks at some reviews of the film from when it was released, and I think had Eastwood’s name been the one in the credits of “Directed By” more praise would have been heaped on the film. By and large, Lorenz does a very good job of taking Eastwood’s style and it would be easy to mistake this for one of his films.
Trouble With The Curve was a nice drama about a father and daughter, and a little bit about baseball. Well, alright, a lot about baseball, but it’s not necessarily a baseball movie like The Natural. Only two short featurettes are presented – the film didn’t necessarily make a big splash in theaters, and it’s sort of gotten dumped onto home video. At just over 10 minutes total, on has to wonder why these featurettes were artificially separated in the first place.
if you’re a fan of Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams or baseball’s finer points, you might enjoy Trouble With The Curve. I did.