The Yankles

I just watched this last night via Netflix at the recommendation of a friend. Whereas she said it was "hysterical", I found it to simply be a nice little movie with some funny parts. I didn't laugh out loud more than once or twice, but hey, a good movie, even a good comedy doesn't HAVE to have you rolling in the aisles to be good.

The story in a nutshell is simply-Big League player (Charlie) gets out of jail after ruining his life with 3 DUI's. An Orthodox Yeshiva school is putting together a baseball team for the first time and one of the students, who once played Minor League Ball happens to know Charlie and gets him to coach while wrestling with his scornful father, played by Don Most. The details you have to see for yourself. It is really great to see Mr. Most back in front of the camera and he does a terrific job.

Not an exciting movie and at times predictable and some of the coincidences made me go, "Hmmm?" but I cannot stress enough, A GOOD MOVIE. To watch it is to be entertained. A pleasant way to spend just under an hour and a half. The acting, not top notch, is not at all bad.

Sorry if this critique is Luke warm as opposed to the other reviews which raved about it, but I cannot rave. I CAN, like my friend did, recommend this movie. It's fun AND educational for anyone who knows nothing about Yeshiva schools or Orthodox Judaism. I didn't know much, but I learned more. On a side note, it was fun watching and listening to Charlie have such trouble with the Yiddish curses that even a goy like me can say without trouble. I thought many of these words were common knowledge. Who knew? Good movie, enjoy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It was entertaining, engaging, funny, and meaningful. The soundtrack of mostly original music was impressive. I enjoyed seeing Don Most, mostly known from Happy Days, in a very different type of role. My daughter got a kick out of seeing Bart Johnson, who she knows from High School Musical.

The only negative is that the antagonist, the baseball commissioner, seemed a bit one dimensional.

This movie is FUN. I love baseball movies and this follows the formula and more. Fallen baseball idol redeems himself by coaching an underdog team of rabbinical students. Worth seeing for this scene alone-- the Ethiopian Jewish baseball player Yeshiva students do soulful Louie Armstrong imitation singing "iney ma tov". Another great scene has the goyish coach learning "kosher cuss words". Once he writes them on his arm he can shout move your "tuchas" or "don't be a putz". Some of the actors look as though they were last minutes stand ins and don't do as well as the principals. But the main characters are solid and hey its a low budget film. If the director wants to make another baseball movie, I'll stand in for free.

But with orthodox Jewish men studying to be Rabbi's. If you liked a league of their own for more than the sexy Geena Davis then you will like this. I mean who doesn't need "kosher cuss words" in their life.

This movie is about a Jewish baseball team. Their coach trying to resurrect his image after a botched play cost his team a championship. He is given the chance to teach these Orthodox Jews the National pastime. It is not a great movie and the acting is just so so, but it is a cute movie worth watching one time.