I can forgive the “I believe” speech, which always makes my eyes roll (you believe in softcore pornography?) and sticks out like a sore thumb as the most writerly moment in an extremely written movie, and I can forgive the two very brief scenes of Costner and Sarandon dancing like the dorkiest suburban parents at the block party, mostly because every other frame is near-perfect. Definitely the greatest baseball movie, but even awarding it that title feels equivalent to a…

[Wrote this quickly about 18 months ago.]
 
Fourth or fifth viewing. Longstanding issues persist.
 
1. The Fall (vs. Rise) section alternates between After School Special moralism and, no pun intended, misery porn. There might as well be a Just Say No watermark over the scene when Amber introduces Dirk to coke at the NYE party. It would be A Bit Much to just crosscut between two violent assaults, but that it’s bookended by Amber losing custody of her…

This movie used to only be funny, with maybe enough melancholy to give it some teeth. I watch it now and every moment that doesn’t make me laugh breaks my heart. I’m loath to praise a film for its niceness because Our Current Cultural Landscape exalts the most boring form of it imaginable, i.e. people being gooey to each other because any other mode of expression (sarcasm, cynicism, apathy, contempt) is ostensibly too much for such dull, sensitive souls to…