One Hit from Home

The producing team of Davy Stone and John Meier took the two lead roles in One Hit From Home. Davy Stone plays a washed up ballplayer whose career took a nosedive after his parents were killed in a car crash. Meier who was 31 when the film was made is sadly way too old for the part of a young college baseball prodigy. In fact the only star for the Arizona State University team where Stone has returned to take a job as coach.

Both of these people and the team in general need a lot of motivation. Meier is dealing with an alcoholic father who can't cope with the death of his wife. Both of their inabilities to deal with family tragedy is the bond they share.

It's also the basis of the Christian underpinning of this sports drama. It is a Christian film but it is also suitable for mainstream audiences and has a good message to it about you never know what life will bring you around the next corner, good or bad.

Jimmie Easton (David Aaron Stone) was once a promising baseball player, with the SF Giants. But, just look at him now! After a blown knee and the auto accident death of his parents, he is drinking and drifting. Fortunately, before he hits rock bottom, he is offered a coaching job with a struggling college program. But, it requires moving back to his home town. Thus, Jimmie comes back to his roots with a bad attitude about absolutely everything. On top of it all, he believes he can just "drift" in his job, as the team has never been a winner. Meanwhile, a talented player, Brandon, on Jim's team is likewise having issues. He has a new girlfriend but thinks her parents don't like him. More important, Brandon's mother died two years ago and his father has gone a bit crazy with grief. If anything bothers him, he takes out his anger on Brandon, to the point of physical abuse. One more complication is present. A former flame of Jimmie's is still in town, teaching and looking very pretty in her single state. But, since Jimmie broke her heart once, will she be interested in seeing him again? This film draws from many other films, like The Mighty Ducks (without the humor), Hardball or League of Their Own. Its the coach on the ropes with nowhere to go but up, who still turns losers into champions. BUT, with such a winning formula, what's wrong with a new redo? As a Pureflix film, this one also has no objectionable language or sexual situations. Yet, it does have scenes of alcohol abuse, bar fighting, and family abuse, perhaps making it unsuitable for some younger viewers. Scott does a nice job as the lead and the rest of the cast, unfamiliar, do fine work in their respective roles. Good scenery, costumes, script, and direction make it nice view for an evening's entertainment.

Script has no flow. Piano music is annoying and rest of musical soundtrack does not fit many scenes. How many times do you have to star a line with "Hey"

Very bad acting, poor video quality, looks like a home made movie. Could only sit through about 1/2 the movie and gave up. I am not concerned I might have missed a great ending, was not worth sitting through no matter the ending.

There was no character development. The main character gets some poorly acted motivational speech from Dad, and next thing you know he is a washed up drunk angry at the world. You just don't care about the outcome for the main character, and none of the characters seem believable nor even enjoyable to watch.

My 13 yo son and I watch every movie about baseball we can find, this is the only one that we did not sit through. Takes a lot for my son to agree to shut off a movie midstream.

My husband and I enjoyed watching this movie. It is a lower-budget production, without fancy special effects, but it's wholesome with a predictable, but meaningful storyline. If you are looking for non-stop action, you won't find it in this thoughtful film, which may surprise some who have come to expect that. But you also won't find explicit language and other themes that seem to be a routine part of hit movies. For me, that was refreshing. I was a little surprised at the vehemence of some of the reviews against this simple, straight-forward movie. If you're not interested in Christian themes, it may be a little boring, but hardly objectionable. I even enjoyed the music in the film, which I was not able to find. From me, it's a thumbs up for a sweet film for the whole family.