Mr. 3000

I love movies and I love watching sports. Not surprisingly, I really enjoy sports movies. Good ones. This is a very good one.

Bernie Mac, as the ragingly ego maniacal baseball star Stan Ross, accomplishes the near impossible. He makes us despise his character, then pity him, and finally adore him. He is completely comfortable in the role, and commands the screen with almost shocking ease.

The movie doesn't go for a home run, and therein lies much of its strength. This isn't "The Natural." The director and writer are content to tell a straightforward but very entertaining story with a good message for athletes of all ages. "Mr. 3000" is funny and ultimately quite touching, and the ending is both surprising and fitting.

My kids enjoyed the movie as much as I did. So count this as three "thumbs up" for a Hollywood movie with a little bit of heart.

If you like baseball, here is a good film for you. Bernie Mac is perfect in the title role as a Brewers baseball player with an ego the size of Milwaukee who retires just after he thinks he gets his 3000th hit, which he assumes will make him a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. Many years and no induction later, he learns that three of the hits did not count, and he returns to the game to get those three hits. Mac does a good job and actually fleshes out the character, as his return helps him learn more about being a team player. I really liked this film when I saw it.

*** out of ****

Bernie Mac plays a spoiled baseball player who does not like the media, does not respect the fans, and has no use for his teammates in the movie Mr. 3000. Is he playing, perhaps, a cartoon of a present day super star, perhaps one who plays left field in San Francisco? Regardless, Mr. 3000 is one of the hundreds of baseball movies that have come down the pike, and like most baseball movies, the super stars are jerks and everyone else on the team are just there to fill the background. This is not to say the movie is not entertaining, it does have several amusing moments and the baseball action is perhaps the most realistic in a movie, it is just that the movie does not break much new ground. Bernic Mac plays Stan Ross, an egotistical super star who retires the same night he gets his 3000th hit, the traditional statistic that gets a player into the Hall of Fame. However, because of the bridges he burned with the media, Ross cannot get into the Hall of Fame, and to make matters worst, it is found out that Ross didn't get 3000 hits, rather 2997 hits. So Ross needs to come out of retirement, not an easy task for a player out of the league for 9 years. Fat and out of shape, Ross beings his comeback. While not popular with the media, he is popular with the fans, as seen in perhaps the funniest scene of the movie where an old middle relief pitcher who still hates Ross is the only player who would volunteer to introduce him at his number retirement ceremony, and this popularity with the fans motivates the Brewers' owner (Chris Noth) to let the old player be apart of the team. The humor comes from Mac's natural charm an his ability to ham it up when playing the self-absorbing ball player. Sure there are certain sports formulas throughout the movie, but it is still entertaining enough to warrant a view, if for nothing else but to see Bernie Mac do what he does, or to see the very nice looking Angela Bassett as an ESPN reporter. Baseball fans will notice a few things that could upset them (how many times do the Brewers and Astros play?), but a nice touch was how good the on-field action looks and all of those sports talking heads play a part in this movie. Even a nit-picking sports fan enjoyed Mr. 3000.

Enjoyed this film primarily because of the great acting of Bernie Mac,"Guess Who", and his girlfriend in the film, Angela Bassett,(Maureen "Mo" Simmons),"Sunshine State". Bernie plays the role of a super baseball player who winds up having to prove himself all over again in the eyes of the Hall of Fame Judges. There are plenty of laughs and some very warm and sexy scenes with "Mo" who plays a CNN News reporter who has interviews with Bernie and has a quick tongue in response to his remarks about being in love and wanting to tie the knot. If it were not for the above mentioned actors, this film would have fallen completely on its head. Thanks Bernie Mac !

"Mr. 3000" has those moments, those moments where you agree that this should have been made into a multi-million dollar feature with big stars and extras and a caterer and all that. There's some pretty funny jokes. It's not a bad film. But it just doesn't really excel anywhere that a sports comedy worth its investment should.

Bernie Mac plays Stan Ross, the titular Mister, and he kind of has the feel for the role all down. But there's two scenes where Mac's inner nice-guy comes out and deflate the bloated jerk he's supposed to be playing. Therefore, the film has this two-headed character, one who is Bernie Mac improvising a nice little scene, and one who is Stan Ross, Mr. 3000 himself.

People have complained the film is too Disney, too formulaic, but the essence of sports is surprise within the bounds of formula. Disney's rules of narrative almost work here; the embittered jerk stripped of his former greatness finds redemption in a second try for his title. It's up to the filmmakers to make it work, to make the redemption by baseball story find nuance and still move the audience. When the drama works (exclusively on the baseball field) and the comedy too (exclusively near the baseball field), this film works too. When it doesn't (pretty much all the arbitrary directions the plot turns to show that he is a jerk), the movie falls flat. So enjoy, but beware the slow scenes with little meaning.