El novato

As predictable as a Hallmark card, but not without merit, The Rookie makes for a solid outing. Dennis Quaid, the most reasonable jock actor working today, is absolutely perfect as the science teacher turned baseball player Jimmy Morris. The film is never dumbed down for the children, as would be expected from a G rated film. As a sports film, The Rookie is one of the best I have seen since Any Given Sunday.

Following Disney's purest tradition, "The Rookie" tells a story of hope and believing in yourself.

This film is actually a two-in-one combo. The first half is the story of the bad (baseball) team that, through some hard work and inspiration from their coach, come all the way from behind to win the championship. This movie we have seen tons of times ("Hardball", "Mighty Ducks", "Little Giants", etc, etc.). There are very few references to the Jimmy Morris tale during this first half.

The second half is all about Jimmy Morris and his struggle to pursue a long lost dream: become a major league baseball player. He is driven to gain self-confidence, hope and ultimately courage to take a shot at his dream; even when he's old enough to be retiring from instead of entering professional baseball. On the other hand, he has a family to take care of and a decent job he would be turning down to go after a potential lost cause.

All in all I think this movie is a story of courage. It takes lots of it to go after something you forgot you wanted more than anything; that and a very supporting family. The fact that this is a true story makes this point even more significant.

The movie itself may seem a little bit too long for it's purpose, specially the first half which didn't need so much detail, but it takes its message across well enough.

The Rookie is a wonderfully done underdog story, a film that easily wins us over and has us cheering in the protagonist's corner in the first act. Dennis Quaid plays Jimmy Morris, a blue blooded baseball fanatic who grew up with the game running in his blood and a bucket load of talent, but never the time to pursue it growing up. His working class father (Brian Cox) discourages that kind of ambitious and adopts a vaguely bitter worldview. And so he grows up, starts a family and the dream fades. His skill resurfaces when he coaches the town's high school baseball team. They take notice of his wildfire pitching arm, and make him a deal: if they win one championship, he takes a crack at the major leagues talent scout circuit. It's a pleasure watching an old dog like Quaid take a triumphant eleventh hour shot at success, and it makes for a fine film. Morris's fastball is a 90 plus mile an hour wunderkind and he is immediately drafted into the MLB despite his age. His family is overjoyed and he is filled with a new energy and love for life spurred on by his second chance at his passion. It's great stuff. Rachel Griffiths is solid as Jimmy's eternally supportive wife, Beth Grant is sweet as his mother and adorable Angus T. Jones makes good work of his doting son. It's Brian Cox who quietly steals the show as his father, a man soured by his own misplaced trajectory, who takes his damn time to come around and show some pride is his son. Cox is a deeply gifted pro who provides pools of gravity and anchors the film back on solid ground every time it veers towards excessive sentimentality. Especially his final, wrenching scene. A golden entry in the sports genre.

I love it when they actually do a sports story well. So many in the past have been so hokey it was embarrassing to watch. Not this one. It's just a genuinely nice movie, an old-fashioned type of story - and based on a real-life guy to did exactly what Dennis Quaid did in this film. He plays a high school coach who is talked into trying out, late in life athletically-speaking, to become a pitcher in professional baseball. Eventually, he reaches his goal of making it to the Major Leagues, even if it was a very brief stint.

All the characters in here are nice people, the kind you root for, from Quaid to the players on his high school team, to his little boy (Angus T. Jones, now somewhat of a star on television.)

Quaid is believable in playing Jim Morris because, unlike actors in the past in sports films, he knows how to throw a baseball. He looks like a pitcher, a guy who could fire it 90-plus miles per hour. And, most of this film is true, as testified by the real-life pitcher in one the documentaries on the DVD.

So, if you're looking for a nice, inspirational true life sports film, you can't wrong with this one.

A fine story about following your dreams and actually taking a stab at Doing something about them when the chance strikes. Nothing was easy for Morris either-he had a family, job, job opps elsewheres, a mortgage, etc-it wasn't like he could just drop what he was doing and blithely hop on the greyhound to play AAA ball for 4 months. It took guts. I am glad that they showed his indecision, almost up 'til he got the callup to the majors.

I can remember seeing him pitch against the Red Sox(I think...), it was a great story. Though Morris actually looks more like John Kruk or a Mills Watson than Quaid-that's okay.

Quaid does a very good job playing the man, the teacher, coach and 'oldest rookie'.... As someone who is in the the same age group, I certainly can ID with his plight. You're not Quite too old to do what you had dreamed of as a kid, but it's getting there. You have to do it sooner than lator.

Believably told, nicely edited, paced, acted, good to see the familiar faces of the late Royce Applegate, Brian Cox and Rachel Griffiths here.

Good job all around, glad to see it hit.

*** outta ****...who woulda thought that the Tampa Devil Rays woulda been the subject of such a good movie early on?