Eephus, le dernier tour de piste

A charming, memorable cast makes this movie special. Every actor gets his time at bat, and by the end of the movie I was amazed how well I knew and understood these characters. The small town charm and loving tribute to the passing of time and legacies contribute to a story that pulls you in. I can't say it's an edge-of-your-seat thriller, but you will still care every time a character steps up to the plate (literally and figuratively). In many ways the movie reminded me of a David Mamet play. I was also impressed by the cinematography; the final 15 minutes of the movie are a technical marvel of lighting and camerawork. Overall an excellent film!

This film has a lot of potential, but the characters weren't developed enough. The comedy had a couple laughs and different people laughed at different times in the theater (the funniest part for me wasn't funny for everyone & others were laughing during times when for me it was barely funny at all).

The beginning started out best, with the most potential and I was just waiting for the real connection to happen, to inevitably fall in love with who these people are, but it never came to fruition.

Not to say I don't appreciate rec leagues, and the hobbies that make our lives seemingly worth living, and the dreams we all have had that only a small percent are lucky enough to live out.

This film is an almost but not quite for me, that just got so diluted with no progression in the script that made the 98 minute run time feel more like 135 minutes. I found myself wishing for the end.

The acting was good for some, maybe even for most, but for others, their skills weren't big screen ready. People disappeared/appeared and showed/didn't show without reason throughout.

The characters should've been closer than they were. It was all kind of a let down for not only them, but audiences members alike.

Some of the random spectators in it were similar in that you really don't feel the connection with them nor with the other characters or script, either. But oh we were all trying to get there.

The end was anticlimactic and it seemed purposeful, but so was the middle, thus was the majority of the film. I mean who doesn't like a good climax?

With the right writing, this could've been so much more.

EEPHUS (2025) Like the pitch it's named after, Carson Lund's EEPHUS is a slow erratic curveball that sneaks up on you. Two baseball teams gather to play an organized pick-up game one afternoon. An old man sets up a card table to keep score. An even older gentleman takes his seat - pretty much alone with the sparse "crowd". A grumpy for-hire umpire reluctantly takes the field. A food vendor hawks pizza by the slice. The teams are made up by a motley crew of middle-aged townies and a few younger players some of whom may still harbor thoughts of semi-pro ball.

They are gathered in a rundown park, Soldiers Field, that has seen better days. The waning rays of the autumn sun fall on the colorful foliage as Halloween beckons in this small New England town. It's the last game to be played there as the stadium will be torn down to make way for a new school. The nearest similar playground is a half-hour drive away.

The narrator is legendary Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman who drops pithy quotes from the legends of the game such as Babe Ruth and Yogi Berra. Wiseman's participation is approapriate for Lund takes a semi-documentary approach, favoring observation over narrative. The film never leaves the park. One simply watches the twenty or so men go through their paces, dropping in for snatches of conversation here and there. Like the sport itself, the movie can be slow - and dare one say it? - a bit dull. Of course, as any true fan of the game will tell you, monotony is part of the game, too - as it is in life itself.

None of the actors are particularly famous, but a few such as Keith William Richards and Paul Kandarian may be somewhat recognizeable. They all feel genuine. Red Sox announcer Joe Castiglione plays the vendor. The best cameo is an extended one by Boston baseball legend Bill 'Spaceman' Lee who shows up and disappears like a ghost pitching one inning (Lee threw the most infamous Eephus pitch in history at the 1975 World Series giving up a homer to Tony Perez even though he'd been strenuosly warned not to do so).

As the game drags on, people start to go home. It gets dark, but the core men soldier on. It's the last game after all. Plus, the score is tied. There HAS to be a result. They NEED to see it through. At this point, they are literally playing for the Love Of The Game as the old saying goes. It ends not with a huge epiphany (would be inappriate for a low key production such as this) - although there is a fittingly puny fireworks display planned.

EEPHUS is an elegiac look at the true meaning of baseball. Perhaps not a 'Field of Dreams' as much as a way of life for the diehard faithful who may have little else they can still cling to.

Every day life is go go go... stimulation overload. Social media and the internet broadly are a constant dopamine rush. In chase of something bigger and better.

This movie, without the dramatic flare and with its every day 'common' plot/comedy, reminded me that the little things: community (even a rag tag group of misfits) and a shared purpose (even if a bland one) can bring true joy. It reminded me that by slowing down to appreciate what we have ... we can have fulfillment.

I'd recommend this movie for anyone who is ambitious. It will remind you to keep going AND that there is likely a lot to appreciate in what we already have.

Let's face it, most of us live lives that don't add up to much in the grand scheme of things. But we can still construct a meaningful life, if we act with integrity and see things through.

That's what I see as the main idea being explored in this movie about a New England small-town adult rec-league baseball game. The game is "meaningless" according to standard criteria. It's a make-up game being played in mid-October between two middling teams that aren't contending for the league championship. Most of the players are middle-aged men without any particular talent.

But it's also the last game that will ever be played in this league, because the field is scheduled to be paved over to build a new school. The players understand that a part of their lives is about to end, and accordingly they invest the game with a sense of purpose. There are umpires, concessions, and even an official scorer. When light starts to fade and the score is tied, the teams refuse to quit, using their car headlights to keep playing until there is a resolution.

My description sounds heavy and the movie could have easily been preachy or cliched, but the filmmakers convey their ideas in a low key, shambolic way, with lots of understated humor and random moments of grace.