Knuckleball!

This is an interesting documentary for baseball fans. Much of the iconic attributions to baseball's knuckle-ballers has been made before by sportscasters during games, but this is fun to watch nonetheless. The movie focuses on two pitchers in 2011, Tim Wakefield, and R.A. Dickey. I believe Dickey is still pitching in 2013 for the Blue Jays.

There is a tendency in documentary filmmaking to include too much footage, and "Knuckleball" is no different. The documentary jumps back and forth in time rather than follow a chronological order. The same crowd shots are used multiple times. There is footage of the pitchers driving around in cars. There is a lot of game footage of the two pitchers which becomes tiresome after an hour. Just when you think there is going to be some breakthrough or change of pace in the film, it lapses back into footage from the mid 2000's. There is excessive coverage of the Red Sox-Yankees series.

This movie would be good for people who aren't familiar with pitching styles or the history of the famous knuckle-ballers in baseball.

There are entertaining interviews with Niekro, Hough, and Wilbur Wood.

In short, this documentary is about 15 minutes too long. It is a good bet for serious baseball fans.

Knuckleball! is a sports documentary that follows the lives of Tim Wakefield and RA Dickey, two knuckleball pitchers, during the 2011 baseball season. More than this, however, it is a story about the strange life of being a knuckleball pitcher, and goes into some depth, about the history and interesting personalities of knuckleballers over the years.

Knuckleball! is a movie that seems like it should be boring, but it is actually a wonderful human story of following a dream and finding improbable success. Knuckleballers, as the movie explains, are people borne of desperation--they see the end of their careers before them and conclude that, rather than quitting, they have to do something. They find their solution through a practice that at once gains them acceptance but also turns them into something of an outcast. We root for them because we appreciate people who can carve an unconventional path, and in watching them we feel like maybe we imperfect people have a chance also to make it in this world.

As a result, this movie is weirdly profound. For all of you who find the alternate path, this movie is for you. Watch it and cheer on the everyman, as he floats it up to the plate at 60 miles per hour and watches the world's most intimidating sluggers go up in smoke.

When I first heard that a documentary film was coming out about the knuckleball, it seemed a little odd. How would you fill a feature-length movie with an examination of a non-rotating baseball pitch? Well, producers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg have done it—and in the process created one of the most entertaining sports documentaries in years.

The reason is that it's not just about the knuckleball—it's about the struggles of the very few men who have tried to master it in the big leagues. Just as the pitch itself is unpredictable, so were the careers of Tim Wakefield, R.A. Dickey, Phil Niekro, Charlie Hough and Belmont's own Wilbur Wood. The film focuses on Wakefield and Dickey, but it also tells the tale of the camaraderie among all the knucklers—and the responsibility they all feel to the legacy of the pitch that made their dreams come true.

This is more than a baseball movie, it's a movie about not giving up. As Phil Niekro told Tim Wakefield early in his career, "Accept your losses, but never accept defeat." We recommend this movie highly—four stars!

If you are a fan of baseball, you should absolutely love this documentary on Knuckleball pitchers. Outstanding production. Loved every minute of it.

The knuckleball is an enigma in the sport of baseball. Only a handful of pitchers in the 100+ year history of the game have thrown it well enough to make a career out of it. This documentary focuses on two knuckleballers in particular (Tim Wakefield & R.A. Dickey) in trying to shed some light on both the physical and mental side of being a baseball oddity.

There are basically two distinct themes running through this doc:

1. A history of the pitch, so to speak, in which former knucklers like Charlie Hough, Wilbur Wood, Tom Candiotti, and Phil Niekro are interview regarding their thoughts on their bread-and-butter pitch.

2. A narrower focus on Wakefield & Dickey, delving into more the psychological toughness needed to soldier on despite being label a baseball "freak", of sorts.

This is a great little documentary for all baseball fans (especially those who vividly remember Wakefield's long career or Dickey's magical run with the Mets) and is about as unique as the fluttering pitch itself (I can't remember any other documentary covering similar material). It is lighthearted, emotional, informative, and serious all at the same time.

The only reason I can't give it the full five stars? I wish it would have focused on the personal stories of Wakefield/Dickey even a bit more. Their interactions with the "old gang" of knuckleballers is great, don't get me wrong, but there are WAY too many slo-mo shoots of fluttering knucklers used simply to fill time/space. The personal stories would have been compelling enough to explore even more fully.

Overall, though, this is a fun little baseball documentary that is very professionally produced and doesn't try to "ruffle feathers" by making outrageous statements for publicity's sake. It is clear that the filmmakers were truly interested in and inspired by their creation and that fact shows in the final product.