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FIRST: Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context......

"They just don't make 'em like they used to!" As regards "For Love of the Game", the above comment applies to both movies and baseball players!

Old-fashioned, straight-ahead storytelling, complimented by solid performances, extremely convincing on-the-field action, excellent photography and more than competent direction by Sam Raimi, make for a resoundingly entertaining movie... even if you're not much of a baseball fan!

Perhaps the best thing going for the film is its truly innovative integration and balance of rapid-fire on-going game vs. Relationship development flashback elements, allowing the viewer to "get inside the athlete's head" in a way no other movie in recent memory does. FOR LOVE thusly manages to put a signature spin on the subjective experience of a great athlete's swan song by sharing and highlighting the stark contrast between the external precision and perfection of the real-world game in progress, and the turbulent, highly personal, inner-world of the passions that drive him.

Kevin Costner, certainly NOT the greatest actor in the world, literally shines in the mother of all tailor made roles. Kelly Preston shows us a highly focused intensity, in just what may be her best on screen appearance to date! John C. Reilly, although cast as the solid-as-a-rock-always-there-when-you-need-him-on-the-sidelines Catcher, plays to the hilt a supporting role, in every sense of the word.

There are moments in FOR LOVE however, that seem a touch too maudlin, trying just a little too hard to jerk that extra tear. A few of these melancholy scenes are drawn out to the point of making the viewer self-conscious and put upon. These occasional excesses are easily overlooked, however, in light of the films many strengths and its overall highly engrossing nature.

8*.....ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

This has to be one of the best movies I have ever watched and watched and... well, you get the picture.It is a revealing account of relationships and feelings and trust. Set during one major league baseball game, a man relives the past five years of his life from the pitchers mound. He realizes, over what may be the course of a perfect game, that his life has been anything but perfect. That the really important things in life are slipping away from him.This movie is full of life, it's sweet. It draws you in and holds your interest. I think the movie was underrated because of the subject matter. A romantic baseball movie? but that's just the surface. This movie goes very deep. If you give it a chance you will see that the reality of the setting and the people are extremely captivating, as well as fun. I can't think of another movie that has made me feel so good and so satisfied at the end. If you like baseball you can't help but love this movie. It's full of the most realistic ball playing I have ever seen in a film.If you like a sweet romance that doesn't have to rely on sex and nudity to tell the story, well, this is it. This has to be my all time favorite movie. I own it on vhs as well as dvd. The spotlight on location is a wonderful feature on both versions. It gives a fun look at the making of aspects. It also shows you interview clips from the professional ball people who were involved in the making of the film. I urge anyone who just wants to relax, enjoy a good story and feel better for watching it, to get this movie .

I would have to say that I have seen very few movies better than For Love of the Game. My favorite genre is Romantic Comedy. This wasn't a comedy, but it was feel good. It was light drama and it was extremely well done.

Costner portrayed an aging baseball player with a romantic attachment to the game that reminded me of Robert Redford in The Natural - another movie I rated a 9. The symbolism of the movie was the notion of ending a romance for the game and transferring that romance to a woman. For him, at least, there was room for only one at a time. And, fortunately for her, his career was at the very end. Fortunately for us, we got to see his last game interspersed with flashbacks.

The movie was brilliantly done with respect to the actual game of baseball. I cannot recall having seen a sports movie that did such an excellent job of maintaining accuracy about the game. I honestly could have believed I was watching an actual game. The plays were realistic. The situations realistic. And, Vin Scully was sensational doing the play by play.

I've only rated a few movies as 10's in my life. One of them was Field of Dreams - another Costner vehicle. This movie wasn't far behind FOD. In fact, it was nearly as magical and it was a lot more romantic. Why the reviewers of IMDB only give it a 6.7 is beyond me.

I had to refrain from standing up and clapping. I am a sucker for a feel good movie and two weeks later I am still smiling. I loved this from start to finish, Kevin Costner does what he does best, baseball related Romantic comedies. I just wish now that everyone would go and see it, but it still seems that 'The Postman' and 'Waterworld' weigh heavily on Mr. Costner's shoulders.

This film is much more than a beautiful film about baseball. It's about life....about the continuity of life... about moving on... about taking stock of who you are, and who you are going to be. Billy Chapel stands there, quietly, introspectively, doing what he has always done, what he wants to always do, but knowing at the same time, through his reflections and his actions, that things change nevertheless. At the crux of the pennant game for the Yankees, this Detroit pitcher stands on the pitcher's mound, knowing, seeing, the flow of life. His team sold, knowing his days for the Tigers are over, that his catcher will likely not be there again, that his great love is leaving, that her daughter has grown, his friend playing now for the Yankees, even the last pitcher he faces - who began as a Tiger bat boy for the team his father played for, the Tigers - a boy whom the announcers say has no idea of what this moment is, although he does, his team owner watching the last great game of summer... deciding... about the rest of his life. Through his comments, his thoughts, and his reflections, he evaluates not only where he is going, but who he is and what he will be. And at the precipice of the rest of his life, a perfect game in the balance, he finds it... what his life means. This film never fails to make me cry.