A Mile in His Shoes

This family themed baseball story about a minor league pitcher with Aspergers syndrome is so heartfelt it hurts. The main characters are all likable and the villains are villainous.

The story has several "too sweet to be true" moments but overall it's fun to watch and you can't help but feel good doing so. It does get cornier than Capra ever did in spots but still...

It's interesting to see Dean Cain playing parts where he could have a grown son and his role choices indicate that he's aware of his appeal among the wholesome set.

Enjoy the good parts, ignore the bad and if it annoys you then watch something else.

This is based on a true story.

"A Mile in His Shoes" was not the worst touchy-feely movie I've ever seen, but it definitely is not near the top (which speaks much to the amount of touchy-feely movies I watch)...

The movie has Dean Cain, which really means it has that one guy that you recognize but have no clue what his name is... you just know you've seen him in movies before. And honestly, he wasn't awful... I was actually expecting much, much worse.

In the movie, Dean Cain plays baseball coach Arthur Murphy, who coaches a local semi-pro team who seems to only play one team the entire movie... seriously, every game in this movie is versus a team from Fargo... there is no other opponent featured. Anywho... Coach Murphy is sent to talk to a young kid, Mickey, from Indiana who has Aspergers Syndrome, but his parents have no desire to have him play professional baseball. Mickey's only baseball "experience" was throwing apples at a metal pan on the farm, which should illicit any thinking person to ponder how they know about this kid and why they'd pay him to play professional baseball.

Anywho.... Mickey has Aspergers Syndrome, which is a form of high-functioning autism, and they couldn't have missed the mark any worse than they did. As someone who has worked with kids with Aspergers Syndrome, it was actually kind of difficult to watch. Kids with Aspergers are generally very intelligent and often very poor in social skills... Mickey was quite the opposite on multiple fronts. Yeah, there are special cases, but if you're gonna make a movie about Aspergers, find a middle of the road type of example to work with... it just works better.

So Mickey plays on the team and is well liked and is actually pretty good. That's all I'll say about the synopsis of the movie.

I wasn't on the cast of this movie, nor do I know EXACTLY what it was they were trying to accomplish by making it, but I can't imagine it accomplished its purpose. I'm sure it was rather low budget (if not, their financial folks should be fired forever)... but that doesn't excuse making a poor example of a neurological disorder that is actually pretty important in our culture right now. From a production standpoint, outside of Dean Cain, the acting was awful. Mickey's dad, Clarence, was maybe the most painful acting performance I've had to watch in a while. The actor who played Mickey, Luke Schroder, was not good either... more training and coaching on how to act his role would have gone miles for this movie (pun very much intended).

My wife and I saw this movie on Netflix, and seeing the description, we decided to watch. We weren't upset we picked it—we would have turned if off otherwise—we just wish Aspergers Syndrome was portrayed better... and maybe, just maybe the movie wouldn't have been so bad.

I don't like sports films mainly because they never show the character building aspects but instead the cheats, poor sports and users abound ... dean cain is neither an actor nor a baseball coach ... the guy that played micky's father was a selfish bore ...

This is a painfully "heartfelt" and "heartwarming" movie that goes over the top and spares no cliché in its effort to gain your sympathy for the main character, a naive kid with Aspergers Syndrome and a talent for pitching. The biggest problem with this movie, for me, is the depiction of Aspergers syndrome. The main character is shown as a Forest Gump type character with emotional issues. In reality, Aspergers people usually have normal or even above-average intelligence. I have known a number of people with this syndrome, and none of them have been as dim as the kid in this movie. Still, it was at least sympathetic toward him even as it tried too obviously to be emotionally manipulative.

I was lucky to discover this film running on the Christian Broadcasting system, it's a nice family entertainment film and no overt preaching.

The basic plot outline of the story reminded me of Bob Feller who at the age of 16 was discovered working on the family farm in Van Meter, Iowa. Like young Luke Schroder he had blinding speed. Unlike Schroder in the film, Feller had his family support and his father was the one who made the decision to sign with the Cleveland Indians. 266 career wins later and Feller is in the Hall of Fame.

Feller also did not suffer from Asperger's syndrome. I've met people with that disability and some are high functioning. None channeled in the direction of throwing a baseball and learning the art of pitching. Which minor league manager Dean Cain teaches him.

The best parts of A Mile In His Shoes are some truly touching scenes with Dean Cain and Luke Schroder. They borrowed a lot from Rainman for their performances and it's as special as Rainman.

This one is a sleeper and belongs in a list of good films about baseball. I think Bob Feller would have liked it.