Trouble With The Curve Review

Trouble With The Curve is the story of an aging baseball scout (Clint Eastwood) and his estranged daughter (Amy Adams).  Eastwood plays Gus Lobel who has been a successful baseball scout for decades, but his age and lack of embracing new technology, his employers are starting to question if he's still got the gift.  Gus is threatened by rival scout played by Justin Timberlake, both on and off the field, especially when Gus' daughter Mickey arrives on the scene.  A promising lawyer, Mickey puts her career in jeopardy to reunite with her father as Gus now finds himself looking after his daughter, his career, and keeping Timberlake away from both.

Trouble With The Curve was a cute movie.  Here are the problems: it will never make it as a classic sports or baseball film like Bull Durham, Major League, The Natural, or even Moneyball; nor is it the best relationship building movie that Eastwood has achieved.  There was more of a smooth transition and steady development of a relationship between Eastwood and Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby than there was between he and Amy Adams in The Curve. In fact, I more enjoyed watching Justin Timberlake's character of the "rival" scout breaking down the emotional walls that Mickey (Amy Adams) had build up over the years than I did watching Gus (Eastwood) and Mickey work through their problems.

There were a couple other issues I had with the movie.  Just twenty minutes into the movie, it felt like eighteen of those minutes were spent going out of their way to make sure we understood that Gus Lobel was old, losing his sight, and losing the faith of most of his colleagues.  It got a little tiresome to have the point driven home so much.  Also, the preview leads one to believe that Johnny "The Flame" (Timberlake) is Gus' competition both on and off the field as they are scouting the same big league hitting prospect in up-and-comer Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill) and Johnny immediately starts scouting Mickey when they first meet.  As it turns out, they are anything but rivals; which is fine, but this movie could have used a little more tension and drama and that might have been a nice twist to throw in the mix.

Finally, the protagonist and actual rival scout within the organization Phillip Sanderson (Matthew Lillard) is your stereotypical sleazy jerk that is played so over the top right along side Bo Gentry's ultra macho jerkiness that you are left with absolutely no choice but to hate both of them the minute you meet them.  The film went a bit over the top again in portraying these two in such an unfavorable light.  Sanderson relied completely on computer stats and analysis to make his decisions to climb his way up the ladder to GM of the baseball team though he knows nothing about people or baseball for that matter.  And Gentry, the next big meat-head slugger is only concerned with his image, his endorsements and chicks and has no love or respect for the game.  Not only are you forced to route against them, within moments of being introduced to either character, you know for certain that they both will fail in the end.

Again, Trouble With The Curve is a cute movie.  A little predictable.  Not the best character movie, and certainly not the best baseball movie.  Eastwood brings his A game as the crotchety old scout who is emotionally closed off to those he cares for most.  Adams is the over-achieving daughter pursuing a career she hates to impress her father and comes to terms with her own emotional baggage.  That done mostly through the aide of the smooth, sweet, and much-needed and appreciated comic relief that Timberlake brought to the film.  I enjoyed it, I'm glad I rented it, but this one will not be making it to my esteemed home collection.  What movie will be on my mind next?  We'll have to see.