Trouble with the Curve Review: Predictable, Feel-Good Baseball Flick

rating: 3

So, we now have a movie which starts with Clint Eastwood displaying his prostate problems while relieving himself. Check that one off the list. Getting old does indeed bite. Trouble with the Curve stars Eastwood as an aging baseball scout wanting to sign THE prospect for his swan song to the Atlanta Braves organization. Amy Adams is his semi-estranged lawyer daughter gunning for that beat-all-end-all partnership. You can see how this is going to play out, the difference here are the acting and chemistry with the lead performances. It is the characters that elevate the material, probably more than it should have. Clint Eastwood does deserve some recognition for his skills in front of the camera, just as behind it. The man can convey effectively the mannerisms, thoughts and disconnect that creep into old age as Gus Lobel. Amy Adams has evolved from the one-dimensional impossibly sweet comedic lead to a having nuance, depth and development as an actor. As the daughter just trying to understand her father and his world she does the job well. Justin Timberlake also stars with similar charisma and ability displayed in The Social Network as a one time big armed pitching prospect that was once scouted by Lobel. He helps serving as the bridge between the other two characters. The let-down is the predictable story-line of all the characters. Lobel is a the old-curmudgeon with the past that her daughter doesn't completely understand, that if only explained sooner would have helped matters considerably. The organization all don't believe his experience and seasoned professional lend anything to the job. He believes that they all think it's time he was put to pasture. While Adams' Mickey (Short for Mickey Mantle just in case you weren't aware that Lobel is a baseball fan) is the career workaholic who isn't appreciated enough at doing her job, she spends even spends Saturdays, the weekend for heavens sake, working! Join the club. Also, the first time Adams and Timberlake meet, she's too busy with texting; meaning of course they're obviously going to fall for one another by credit's roll. So, it is not surprising when as Mickey leaves her sweet boring job-in-a-law-firm boyfriend, for Timberlake's junior baseball scout. On the positive end it is good to see a father/daughter relationship developed on-screen, as it is rarely done for the big screen. Even more rare is having that relationship be portrayed with the setting in a sport generally considered to be male-oriented. She knows all the stats, all the names and all the mechanics of the game that defines her father (a real plus in my book, a woman who knows baseball). She truly wants to be close with her dad, but her work and his attitude make it difficult. For him it's just his pride as a loner and the secret he holds that pulls them apart. Adams and Timberlake do develop some sort of chemistry she shouldn't be interested in the first place but again the rapport between the characters elevates the predictable script. Trouble with the Curve is a feel good story through and through, nothing more, nothing less. If you're an Eastwood fan, and really the man even without his empty chair delivers again, there is no new ground covered but it that good-old Clint doing his best, well, Clint on screen again. As long as he is part of projects like this, he'll make them just clear the fence.

Trouble with the Curve opens November 30, 2012 in the UK