Here’s hoping 42 doesn’t wind up in Trouble

January 14, 2013 · 4 comments

I don’t often buy Entertainment Weekly. I usually permit myself an issue or two a year, including the “Best and Worst of” issues.

Trouble With the Curve, which seemed to go from screen to DVD with amazing speed, was deemed #5 on the list of the worst movies of 2012.

According to Lisa Schwarzbaum,

We’ve seen Clint Eastwood do this growing-old-geezer routine once too often: He squints and makes pirates sounds, but inside he’s an okay guy, true to his code, more upstanding than many whippersnappers, and blah blah blah. In this derivative sports-redemption drama — can a baseball movie for once just be about baseball? — Eastwood is a crusty baseball scout. He’s awful to Amy Adams as his adult daughter. But we’re meant to excuse him: He misses his dead wife, he’s losing his hearing, and he’s — nope. Three strikes. Trouble with the Curve is O-U-T.

I wish I knew what the third example was going to be, because Schwarzbaum gets a major fact wrong here: the scout is not losing his hearing, he’s losing his sight, as mentioned at about the 40-second mark in the trailer.

Was he going hard of hearing, too? Sorry to be picky, but I think it’s a crucial difference. You might be able to do that job with diminished hearing, but you really needs the eyes. Makes me wonder how much attention she paid to the movie, not mention the trailer.

BTW, Schwarzbaum also “credited” TWTC for HAVING the worst scene of the year.”..Eastwood is first seen at a toilet bowl, talking either to his urine or his penis ( reasonable people can disagree as to which) in an effort to get his day off to a good start….”

 

 

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{ 4 comments }

1 CJ Boerger January 14, 2013 at 6:51 pm

There was even a scene where he “heard” the batter swing. Now, I didn’t think the acting was great, but they should at least get the facts right! Plus, a bad baseball movie is still better than an average other film.

2 Ron_Kaplan January 14, 2013 at 7:54 pm

I am pretty much in agreement, CJ, though there have been a couple of baseball stinkers, too.

3 Nosgoth1979 January 18, 2013 at 3:21 pm

Ouch, that’s not a good list to be on. One of my coworkers at DISH (who isn’t a baseball fan) recommended Trouble with the Curve to me. Now I kind of want to see it simply out of morbid curiosity. So I’m going to put it in my Blockbuster @Home queue, that way there’s no risk. DISH’s Blockbuster @Home is a great subscription rental service with a huge selection of movies and video games. And the best part is, since I pay the same every month, no matter how many movies and games I may go through, it’s factored into my budget and I don’t have to worry about my spending getting out of control.

4 Ron_Kaplan January 18, 2013 at 3:24 pm

Hey, if you want to promote Blockbuster@Home, take out an ad. 😉

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