Hardball - O Jogo da Vida

It never ceases to amaze me how people can have such widely differing *strong* reactions to a film. A number of negative reviews here, but let me add one more positive.

I loved this film, from beginning to end. I loved every aspect of it: the story, the acting, the plot. I expected just another "Coach takes over losing team and makes them winners" story. Those are fine stories now and then, and I was not expecting anything more than mild entertainment. But this film moved me. Now, I'm a middle-aged white boy, and while I've never been rich I've never gone hungry either, and I've never had to worry about getting shot on the way home, so maybe I don't really know what that "sh*t" is all about and maybe this film wasn't "realistic" in portraying all that; but it communicated to me, and that's what any film is all about. And sometimes in order to communicate, you have to go half way between where you are and where the other person is, and maybe that's what this film did. But whatever, I got it.

In spite of its rather predictable set up Hardball is remarkably effective. It's a terrific example of a mainstream film that squeezes itself sufficiently out of the comfort zone to be both thought provoking and moving without too often lapsing into the triteness we see so often.

Hardball is yet another genre movie about a desperate white guy (Keanu Reeves) forced into coaching a children's sporting team from a rough black neighbourhood. Does he coach a mob of losers to victory? Does he mature while he does the job? Do the children gain valuable insights from their new friend? Does a love interest hover for our desperado coach?

The first third of Hardball shows us Conor O'Neill (Keanu Reeves) in the throws of digging an even deeper hole for himself with bad bets. He's literally on the run from his creditors and is frantic to get one big win to get the ghouls off his back.

We've seen that thousands of times before on T.V. and film but Hardball worked the trick beautifully. A baseball bat smashing a hole in a wall, where a head was a few moments before, can be extraordinarily effective cinema if done right. I was sold. O'Neill's gambling mate Ticky, played by character actor John Hawkes, has a bit of Steve Buscemi look about him and that has to be a recommendation.

Then we meet the children. The film is set in the notorious Cabrini-Green area of Chicago, a high rise low income housing area which is being progressively torn down. Cabrini-Green is now under redevolopment in what's a bold mixed income experiment, incorporating low/no-income citizens into what an area that was always surrounded by prime real estate.

The children are tough talking 13 year olds, but we're soon shown that they're very frightened. Hardball shows their world as being one where they are rightfully scared to be out after dark. One where people sit on the floor in their high rise for fear of bullets coming in through the windows. Again it was very effective film making.

The baseball is little league stuff in every sense of the word. The coach doesn't seem to know much about baseball and his charges, strangely, instantly improve their game on his arrival. There's the designated tear jerking triumphs and I'm sufficiently chump enough to have been sold on that too!

The token woman is provided by Diane Lane and she's O.K. but that whole plot line could and probably should have been left out. But Hardball was strong cinematic fare and well worth a look.

4 Sporting Flys Out Of Five

I liked this movie.Yes,its about a baseball little league,yes it has the usual "lets be a team and win" attitude,but its very well acted by these kids and the dialog sounds real,also its not concentrated only on the kids.

Its more like what the kids get to mean to this guy,who is sort of a loser,and doesn't actually care much about baseball or anything else.

I thought it was well acted,surprisingly good for Keanu Reeves who is not one of my favorite actors,but he seems inspired in this movie. I thought it was very well directed and the whole ghetto setting seems disturbingly realistic.It passes its social message in a simple,direct way without preaching.

I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a low key likable movie.

this movie was good. the little kids were funny, keanu reeves was pretty cool. i also saw on the news the night before i went to go see this movie that there was some big black guy whining about the language used by the kids. he said that it was a "poor and grim representation of america's preseption of inner city children." um..im wondering if this man even HAS kids of his own, and if he does, he should hang out with them more often. the language of the kids was strong, but if u mean to tell me that the majority of kids living in the projects, or ANYWHERE ELSE for that matter, don't use that kind of language, get your head examined. anyway, this was a good movie and i enjoyed it.

Due to alot of negative reviews on this site I did not expect the movie to be as good as it was. However after watching it this evening I was delighted by the entire experience. While I agree that it goes along with the "ducks" formula it deviates from it by not showing us the final game with the final ten seconds for the team to win. It spared us that and just let us know with the final credits that the team won. I thought the performances in the movie were excellent, although even I (living here in the deep south) found the accents of the children a little difficult to comprehend. As for the overall effect of the movie it entranced me, completely, I kept having to rewind scenes to view them again and again. And, more importantly, if anyone ever doubted Keanu's ability to act then one should only view the eulogy scene to know that his critics have been simply barking up the wrong tree. Strong, emotional, sympathetic and completely believable... speaking as as part time amateur actress, do you know how hard it is to cry, and cry believably? Do you know how hard it is to make your chin tremble..? My conversion to Mel Gibson fan was watching him "cry" in Lethal Weapon... this has been my reconversion to Keanu fan..., to cry so believably in a movie is worth quids in my book and to be able to express emotion in such a way is worth any amount of praise. Wonderful movie. Go see it.