Screwball

Billy Corben has alway been a proud historian of South Beach. One might say he should branch out and try other subjects like Alex Gibney or Errol Morris, but why should he? Miami and Southern Florida itself are a wealth of stories to uncover, and it is always interesting to see someone have an unabashed eye for the good and bad of their own back yard.

This time, Corben talks about the Biogenesis scandal, an illicit performance enhancement drug operation that witnessed quite a few baseball players get busted for participating. Baseball was the perfect sport to suck in, especially since the league was woefully behind on testing and many baseball players lived in Florida due to the proximity of the Grapefruit League, a collection of training sights where half the Major League Baseball teams did their spring training. It was clear as day who would ultimately come knocking on the door...the so called future financial guru Alex Rodriguez. You know, the guy that paid obscene amounts of money to cover up his involvement in this case. Also the guy who routinely played high stakes poker with the richest people in the country. That guy. Yeah, he has shows on financial networks now. I guess he keeps forgetting that you should spend tons of money on PEDs to command more contract money. Oh wait, you don't play sports? Whoops. Sorry.

All kidding aside, Corben expertly weaves the tail of how Tony Bosch morphed from an unlicensed doctor into the biggest PED peddler in the country, even going as low as injecting these drugs into high schoolers to maintain his 60,000 dollar a month lifestyle. Eventually, he came up against equally crooked and corrupt individuals, namely Rodriguez and Major League Baseball. Envelopes full of cash, shaky promises and lots of bribes later, the story is one wild ride. And it all started over $4800 being owed to a sad middle aged man that desperately wanted to be liked and be like Sylvester Stallone (who ironically also used PEDs).

I always love the energy of Corben's films as well, and using kids in ridiculous costumes added a new layer of absurdity to a story that was full of them. Even if you are not a big baseball fan, the true crime aspect of this film has a raucous flow to it that will keep you undoubtedly interested.

One thing I didn't expect was for this film to be as humorous as it is. A few oddball characters, along with some insiders, try to put together the story of the MLB steroid era, largely focusing on the guy that was several big stars supplier. Going in I knew the gist of the story, but I didn't know what a fiasco it was. The story gets stranger the longer it goes.

SCREWBALL (2018) covers the Biogenesis scandal that rocked baseball. I don't give a damn about that sport, but this was really engrossing as all of the major players involved in that scandal are interviewed and layout how the whole thing blew up. Tony Bosch was the "brains" of the operation and it is kind of insane how quickly his HGH operation grew in size (haha), ending up being the go to place for everyone from big MLB athletes (including highest paid player of all time, Alex Rodriguez) to high school players. Even more insane is how the story got exposed SPOILER: Bosch, who was living the high life, refused to repay a small loan to a employee and they went nuclear on him; yes the whole multi-million dollar operation came down because he wouldn't repay a $4,000 loan. Director Billy Corben rose to prominence with the COCAINE COWBOYS docs a decade or so back and he balances the many interviewees well. He makes an odd choice of having kids play the various players in re-enactments. It is a little off putting at first, but makes more and more sense as the doc goes on given how childish the people involved behave. I only knew the headlines when this story broke back in the day, so knowing the full story is totally crazy.

Okay, we all know the story: Baseball and Steroids, part II. Interesting, but not THAT interesting.

How this movie makes this sad / tedious subject fun is the filmmaker's approach: He has real characters being interviewed, and where he cannot? HE uses children to play the roles of adults - and the kids NAIL IT. It keeps a more or less creepy and sad story light, at times is hysterical and makes the whole film seem fresh.

If you are a baseball fan OR a fan of creative fim making, this one is a winner.

Screwball lives up to it's title. It takes a quite satirical method of telling how the Major League Baseball doping scandal came about. Picking out the poster child of Dr. Tony Bosch as the major performance drug purveyor to the A-List on a tip from a one-time Average Joe user acolyte turned whistleblower over an unpaid $4000 loan. The whole thing was at various times akin to a circus as it unfoldedl In the end it ook down not only the "fake" doctor but a chunk of Major League talent as it tarnished the sport. Actually the comic relief is entertaining, but the dark side is hardly addressed which isn't too surprising as that unsavory part is likely considered damage control/self-preservation of a billion-dollar industry.