People are voting emotionally.

Don't Believe the Hype

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Hardball is a well-intentioned, tender-hearted film that gets lost in clichés, stereotypes, and bad writing. Keanu Reeves plays Coner O'Neal, a heavy-drinking compulsive gambler who is clearly down on his luck. When he asks a stockbroker-friend to loan him some money, his friend instead offers him a job-coaching Little League ball players for $500 a week. The catch is that this particular Little League team is made up of residents from Cabrini-Green, Chicago's most notorious public housing project.So, we end up with the white mentor meets black street kid cliché (Finding Forrester). The basic plot line of the film is the standard sports film cliché. For me, almost all sports films are variations of Rocky. For example, Hoosiers is "rural Rockies play basketball". The Mighty Ducks could be subtitled "little Rockies play hockey". Even Cool Runnings is "Jamaican Rockies go bob-sledding". The closest parallel is probably Bad News Bears, but Mighty Ducks is a close second.As is the case in many of these films, the basic formula is loser coach coaches loser athletes and they all become winners in the end. A common subplot occurs when the down-and-out coach loses faith in himself, but is propped up by the love of a good woman ("Yo' Adrian"). As I have stated before formula can be okay, if you create richly drawn characters and interesting contexts with unusual plot twists that keep us in suspense. Alas, Hardball had none of this.This is essentially a formula film with poorly developed characters, few innovations, and flat interpersonal relationships throughout the film. If you are interested in the film because you like sports films, see any of the other films listed above on video instead. Major League II even looks good by comparison. If your primary interest is in the lives of low-income minorities in the inner city check out the documentary Hoop Dreams, Menace II Society, Boyz in the Hood, or Clockers. If the interracial mentoring is what appeals, Finding Forrester is a much better choice. If you were interested in this film because you are a Keanu Reeves fan, see your therapist or wait for Matrix II.To be fair, there was one moment at the end of the film that was poignant, well-acted, and moving. This is a clear case of too little too late though. The film ended by swinging for the fences, but in the final analysis Hardball went down swinging.

Outside of the emotional ending, this movie isn't anything special, but I think it is a little underrated. On the surface, it's a sports movie and was advertised to be one, but there is actually not that much focus on the team as a baseball team. We only see about fifteen minutes of the team playing baseball in a couple of practices and maybe three games. The "ship" isn't even the climax of the movie and you don't even care that they win it, outside of that being expected by nature of the genre.Most of the story centers on Conor O'Neill, whose life is not in great shape. He's deep in debt with people who probably don't have a great source of income themselves and seems generally miserable. He takes a job coaching a U-10 baseball team and eventually warms up to the kids and by the end he appreciates their situation. The couple of scenes were we see life in the kids' neighborhood, and they seemed pretty accurate- maybe a little over done at a couple points, but you hear about gang violence in the news a lot so it's probably spot on and I just have no experience to judge it on. Basically, the story is about Conor and the team giving each other hope, and this is all but stated outright over the course of the movie, so you don't have to go hunting for the theme. There are two subplots, one involving Conor's gambling habits and the other with the kids' teacher Miss Wilkes.Conor is slightly reminiscent of Travis Bickle, though of course not as memorable, and is hardly what you'd call a model protagonist. Consequently, we have two foils for him: Miss Wilkes and Ticky. Miss Wilkes shows Conor's faults of not wanting to be as good a person as he can. Ticky represents Conor's former life of unsuccessful gambling and makes Conor's choice to break away from gambling a little more concrete. A couple of the players are examined more deeply to the extent that you'll probably know about half the players by name and have picked out a favorite by the end. There are a few minor antagonists in the guy from Smith and Stevens, the people Conor owes for his blown bets, and one of the opposing coaches coupled with the league administrators.The acting is pretty good for the most part, even from the ten kids. As expected, Keanu Reeves and Diane Lane give the best performances, but certainly not their best showings. The script is well paced and feels realistic, which is all it needs to be. There's nothing special in terms of directing outside of G-Baby's funeral at the end, which was really well done and is probably the most emotional scene in any movie I've watched.It's a very different role for Keanu Reeves, so don't expect him to have any action-hero moments like in the Matrix. There might be a few things that annoy you like the players trash talking each other or Miss Wilkes being shown as sort of a perfect character. Outside of that it should be mildly entertaining for any given viewer, so keep it on until you get bored with it. Overall Rating: 7.8/10

Hardball (2001): Dir: Brian Robbins / Cast: Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane, D.B. Sweeney, John Hawkes, Michael B. Jordan: 80, 000, 000th sports baseball movie about the hardened lives kids endure. It stars Keanu Reeves as a drunken gambler thrust into coaching an urban kids baseball team by a friend who will pay him $500 a week to do so. He figures that the money will pay off debts but he never factored in the behavior. This all leads to a happy ending for all save for the audience. Director Brian Robbins is responsible for Varsity Blues, as well as such crap as Good Burger and Ready to Rumble. He lets the material get away on him like a bunch of kids at an amusement park. It has no originality and characters say lines like, "I'm blown away by your ability to show up." I am blown away by his ability to say that with a straight face. Reeves makes little impression playing a role that has been done fifty times over. Diane Lane is basically a romantic prop for when Reeves has a free moment. Are we to be surprised when these two hook up? D.B. Sweeney plays Reeves's crime pal, although being in this film is perhaps his biggest crime. This is the kind of film that you line up and bat baseballs at just to see if one can smash a dent in it. It is one of the worst sports films ever made. Arguably about inner city kids seeking opportunity but the formula has been done so many times that it hits too many foul balls. Score: 1 / 10

Hard Ball is a slice of life film about an aimless young man given the opportunity to make a difference in the life of ten young boys from the projects of Chicago. Conor O'Neill (Keanu Reeves) is an addict to gambling and this weakness lands him in a spot of trouble where he has to pay off two bookies and needs money fast. He reaches out to an old friend, who's in business, for cash and agrees to coach a little league team for the money. The film goes on to tell the story of O'Neill and the boys as they change each others perspectives and end up helping each other become better people. John Gatins (Coach Carter, Flight) begins his writing career with this as his second feature film. It is a straight forwards predictable story but it has a special quality about it. The film stays away from making things bigger than they are and opts for a realistic outlook on the lives of the characters involved. Keanu Reeves gives a performance that not many would attribute to his successful career, but is a performance that shouldn't be overlooked. Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, Fruitvale Station) is a one of the kids and gives a performance that foreshadows his career to come.Hard Ball, while not an Oscar worthy film, is one that will lift you up without asking for the suspension of belief. You don't need to put aside unrealistic happenings in the film because it doesn't try to be something its not. This film is there to give you insight into a story that you don't see everyday. It leans towards reality rather than entertainment and achieves both.