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madbakerWe watched a 1994 movie last night: The Scout. Albert Brooks is a washed-up Yankee$ baseball scout who discovers a phenom (Brendan Fraser) in Mexico - a kid who pitches around 105 mph, but is also a Babe Ruth home run machine from either side of the plate.
I didn't expect a great movie. Sadly, we didn't even get a decent one.
A movie with good acting, likeable characters, and so forth can make up for a bad plot.
Acting and characters: However, I don't particularly care for Albert Brooks' twitching style. Brendan Fraser was an annoying man-child whose tantrums got old. Dianne Wiest was alternately understated and abrasive as the psychotherapist who has to certify that Fraser's character is mentally sound [which of course, he isn't].
And the real meat of my discontent: the plot. First off - there isn't a plot so much as a sequence of scenes. There's no payoff: Fraser doesn't experience a breakthrough; the therapy bit is dropped and never resolved. Brooks doesn't evolve either. The final sequence is a schoolboy fantasy of triumph but since there's no resolution, there's no emotional payoff either.
Now for the holes. Brooks' scout has two kids go directly from recruitment (and one is a freshman in college) to major-league pitching in a couple months. Sorry, they would start at A or AA at best, even if the club thinks they are fast-tracked. They'd never throw an untried talent directly on the team. The Yankee$ throw gobs of money at Fraser (George Steinbrenner in a cameo says "Pay whatever it takes"). Why would they want a kid who pitches as well as hits? In the American League, he can't do both. The DH is expressly not allowed to be the pitcher. Fraser keeps his mullet hairdo; Steinbrenner famously required his players to be clean-shaven with short hair, no exceptions. Fraser also apparently never practices throwing, fielding, or batting, except in one five-minute scene where he throws one pitch. In a parking garage and with Brooks, not with a team.
Then there's Fraser's debut in game one of the World Series at Yankee $tadium. If he wasn't on the roster in the final month, he wouldn't be allowed to be on the team. And how is he batting again, in ninth place? See the DH comment. The final at-bat is a Cardinal who "hit five home runs in the playoffs"? I doubt the manager would have played that hot a hitter in the 9-spot. He isn't a substitution either; the commentator says he's 0-for-2 that night.
It's no Bull Durham. Heck, it's no Major League.
I didn't expect a great movie. Sadly, we didn't even get a decent one.
A movie with good acting, likeable characters, and so forth can make up for a bad plot.
Acting and characters: However, I don't particularly care for Albert Brooks' twitching style. Brendan Fraser was an annoying man-child whose tantrums got old. Dianne Wiest was alternately understated and abrasive as the psychotherapist who has to certify that Fraser's character is mentally sound [which of course, he isn't].
And the real meat of my discontent: the plot. First off - there isn't a plot so much as a sequence of scenes. There's no payoff: Fraser doesn't experience a breakthrough; the therapy bit is dropped and never resolved. Brooks doesn't evolve either. The final sequence is a schoolboy fantasy of triumph but since there's no resolution, there's no emotional payoff either.
Now for the holes. Brooks' scout has two kids go directly from recruitment (and one is a freshman in college) to major-league pitching in a couple months. Sorry, they would start at A or AA at best, even if the club thinks they are fast-tracked. They'd never throw an untried talent directly on the team. The Yankee$ throw gobs of money at Fraser (George Steinbrenner in a cameo says "Pay whatever it takes"). Why would they want a kid who pitches as well as hits? In the American League, he can't do both. The DH is expressly not allowed to be the pitcher. Fraser keeps his mullet hairdo; Steinbrenner famously required his players to be clean-shaven with short hair, no exceptions. Fraser also apparently never practices throwing, fielding, or batting, except in one five-minute scene where he throws one pitch. In a parking garage and with Brooks, not with a team.
Then there's Fraser's debut in game one of the World Series at Yankee $tadium. If he wasn't on the roster in the final month, he wouldn't be allowed to be on the team. And how is he batting again, in ninth place? See the DH comment. The final at-bat is a Cardinal who "hit five home runs in the playoffs"? I doubt the manager would have played that hot a hitter in the 9-spot. He isn't a substitution either; the commentator says he's 0-for-2 that night.
It's no Bull Durham. Heck, it's no Major League.
