La moglie del campione

This film advertises itself as a Baseball movie with a Love Story. The film fails at both attempts.

The Love story is boring and pointless as the characters simply go through the cliche'd story of falling in love, and then drifting apart.

But the real disaster here is the failure as a Baseball story. Somehow, we are supposed to believe that Michael O'Keefe is a credible Baseball Slugger? O'Keefe will forever be known as Danny Noonan from Caddychack. Unfortunately, this role did little to take that typecast off of him.

He's less than 200 pounds, with barely any muscle tone on his body, and he supposed to have been inspired by his love for Rebecca De Mornay to hit 62 Home Runs in a Season. The story starts off with the fact that he's a light-weight singles hitter. If you look at the four men in history who have hit over 60 home runs in a season, (Ruth, Maris, McGwire & Sosa) you will see that these men are rather large and muscular. O'keefe is neither.

However, the story gets even more ridiculous as O'Keefe nears the record. On the night before the final game, he is sitting on 61 Home runs, which has tied the record. So, what does he do? He goes out to the local dance club (where he first met De Mornay) with his buddies. On his way to the dance floor, one reporter from Sports Illustrated approaches him and asks him a few questions, than wishes him luck.

ONE REPORTER!?!?! He's on the verge of breaking the single season home run record, and he's out in a disco, and there's only one reporter asking him questions??? Even non-baseball fans can appreciate the amount of media coverage and fan reaction when guys like Maris, McGwire and Sosa neared the 60 mark. Those men were constantly hounded by fans and the media every night.

If you want a decent movie about baseball, that also details the accurate lifestyle of a player about to break the single season, see Billy Crystal's "61*".

Interesting enough story from Neil Simon, but by the time we get to the ninth inning...no hit. Something derailed this project early; mediocre script and below par acting. Michael O'Keefe plays Darryl Palmer, a member of the Atlanta Braves that is in a terrible hitting slump. He falls hard for a beautiful aspiring rock star played by Rebecca De Mornay. The romance inspires the slugger to start hitting away at a home run record. The championship is now riding on the slugger's success, but there is trouble brewing between the ballplayer and singer.

O'Keefe does a pretty good job of playing an arrogant, self centered ball player. On the other hand, De Mornay is nice to look at, but just does not fit the material she has to work with.

It is hard to believe that Simon, the acclaimed writer he is, did not give us at least one character we could really care about. Also in the cast are Randy Quaid, Lisa Langolis and Martin Ritt.

If you want a good baseball/romance movie try BULL DURHAM or FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME.

I would have thought with the creative talents of Neil Simon writing the script and Hal Ashby behind the camera The Slugger's Wife would have turned out a lot better. As a baseball film this one is maybe a single.

Playing the title role Rebecca DeMornay is an aspiring country singer for whom baseball player Michael O'Keefe falls big time. O'Keefe is a guy full of promise who never quite reached his potential. But when she's around O'Keefe starts hitting home runs with regularity, so much so that the Atlanta Braves vault into contention for the pennant and O'Keefe starts to threaten the record of 61 set by Roger Maris in 1961.

Soon O'Keefe insists he be at every game as his good luck charm. But DeMornay also has a career she's worked hard at.

This film might have been better but Michael O'Keefe acts like such an egotistical jerk it's hard to work up any sympathy for his problem. Is it his acting, Ashby's direction, or Simon's script. Take your pick.

Best acting in the film is from acclaimed director Martin Ritt who plays the Atlanta Braves manager. He has some interesting motivational techniques.

The Slugger's Wife will never be listed as a great baseball film.

Right fielder for the Atlanta Braves falls for an aspiring rock singer with big dreams; she becomes his good luck charm and marries him, but also wants him to succeed on his own without holding her hand. The combination of director Hal Ashby with screenwriter Neil Simon should've been more interesting than this! The picture has no rhythm: Ashby's timing is shot, he can't build any momentum with the love story, and his actors appear desperate. Tepid leads Michael O'Keefe and Rebecca & De Mornay give ruinous performances (she sings nondescript versions of Prince and Bruce Springsteen songs that wouldn't have garnered applause on Star Search). Supporting cast including Martin Ritt (the director going back to acting) and Randy Quaid fares no better (Ritt's coach decides the best medicine for a heartbroken O'Keefe is to "get him laid", and three girls in a nightclub are rounded up like cattle). A handful of highly-acclaimed filmmakers from the 1970s seemed to bottom-out in the '80s--the decade just left them behind. Ashby is unfortunately one of these casualties, but what was Neil Simon's excuse? * from ****

Baseball player meets rockstar - they marry and have difficulty adjusting to each other's different lives. Not only was I very disappointed when I saw this film, but I actually felt robbed of two hours of my life. I get angry when I think about the time I wasted watching this movie. Judging by cast and crew, it should've been a halfway decent movie. Not in the least... ranks as one of the worst I've ever seen. Not romantic, not comedic...not an honest or unique moment in this whole film. Bull Durham is a much better example of romance/baseball movie... Slapshot is also a better sports/comedy movie, with a subplot about the difficulty of being married to a professional player.