Reverse the Curse was a film I desperately wanted to love. I'm a huge fan of David Duchovny's acting, writing, & directing, and have read the source material (his own "Bucky F*ing Dent" novel) from which this is based. Sadly, Reverse the Curse didn't emotionally connect with me in the same way the book did.
For a very basic overview, this movie tells the story of Ted Fullilove (Logan Marshall-Green)--a 1970s Yankee Stadium peanut-vendor who gets the dreaded call that his quasi-estranged, Red Sox-rooting father Marty (Duchovny) is dying. As the two awkwardly reconnect, they discover that a shared interest in baseball may help the relationship flourish in its final weeks.
In a sense, Reverse the Curse is a relatively straightforward "strained father/son relationship" flick. As writer, director, & producer, Duchovny definitely puts his unique comedic/philosophical touches on the material and one can tell he is genuinely trying to create real emotion (even often through the lens of Californication-like comedy).
But overall, the experience largely comes up short in two distinct categories:
First, this is a period piece (1970s) that doesn't seem like it whatsoever. Perhaps budgetary restrictions are the main culprit, but I never felt absorbed into 70s culture like I should have been.
Also--and most egregious--is the puzzling lack of baseball content in the film. While by no means a "baseball movie" at heart, Reverse the Curse puts forth surprisingly little mention of baseball whatsoever until the final act. In the novel, I remember the Marty/Ted relationship being defined by baseball and more material of Teddy at Yankee Stadium. That isn't the case in the cinematic version--and I think it is sorely missed.
As such, I have to cap my ranking of Reverse the Curse at 6/10 stars. Though featuring a strong setup and genuine heart behind the entire project, it seems a bit too much was "lost in translation" in the book-to-screen adaptation process.
