For Love of the Game

Baseball wrapped around a love story, or a love story wrapped around baseball? Honestly, by the end I didn't care which one was the engine, because both of them worked on me.

Kevin's out there on the mound at Yankee Stadium throwing the game of his life, and the whole time he's living somewhere else in his head. Four years of Kelly Preston flashing back between pitches. And here's the thing: when the movie tells you he loves her more than baseball, I bought it. I get it. Baseball's baseball. She's her.

I came in expecting one thing and got something with more heart than I bargained for.

John C. Reilly as the catcher and best friend? Lovable. That's the word, and I'm not reaching for a better one. He's the guy you want squatting behind the plate when you're forty years old and trying to leave it all out there.

J.K. Simmons, great. Brian Cox, great. I could watch those two read a phone book and walk out satisfied, so getting them in something with actual stakes is a gift.

And Jena Malone. I'll be honest, I didn't see that piece coming. She loves Kevin like a dad, and she plays it so well that the whole subplot lands instead of feeling like a detour. That's a hard thing to pull off, and she pulled it off.

The movie surprised me. I came in expecting one thing and got something with more heart than I bargained for. It stuck with me after the credits, which is more than I can say for most of what I sit through. The love story is the spine, the baseball is the skin, and somehow the two of them hold each other up for the whole runtime.

I'd watch it again. I'd tell pretty much anyone to give it a shot. Sometimes you want a movie that just wants you to feel something, and this one does, and it earns it.