Coming attractions: Trouble with the Curve

August 14, 2012

I think I’m fairly up on pop culture, especially TV and movies. so when I saw a commercial for this upcoming Clint Eastwood/Amy Adams/Justin Timberlake baseball movie, I had to scratch my head. How is it I haven’t heard about this one, which is set to open on Sept. 21? Moneyball got lots of buzz prior to its release, as has the new Hank Aaron bio-pic, which is still in production.

Trouble with the Curve tells a somewhat standard story of an aging scout (Eastwood) who still clings to the old ways in this era of Moneyball analysis, computers, and technology. When he develops medical issues which jeopardize his career, his friends put pressure on his daughter (Adams) to put her career on hold and assist him as he scouts one last big prospect. (Timberlake plays the inevitable love interest.)  There are lines from smarmy young whippersnappers such as “He’s so old he doesn’t know how to turn on a typewriter, let alone a computer.” And of course, there are father-daughter conflicts: the scout’s wife died when the daughter was just nine and his career kept him on the road and unable to bring her up proper-like, so there’s that. But you know everything will come together for one last weepy celebration of the human spirit. There, I just saved you $11. You’re welcome.

That’s not to say that I won’t go see it. I’m a sucker for anything combining baseball with film. While I was sick I finally had a chance to watch Touching Home (more on that another time).

The baseball purists will no doubt put Trouble under a microscope to see how accurate it is. The Hollywood Reporter fired the first salvo. Let’s not nitpick this to death, okay? Eastwood’s character is obviously a fictional character based on some actual, so just let it go.

There’s a scene at the end of the trailer where it appears Eastwood is pitching to Adams. She seems to have a pretty good swing, although he throws like…well, like an 82-year-old.

 

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