The Phenom

After watching the trailer for this movie, and being a big fan of baseball in general, I was really, really excited that this could be a winner. It looked like a taut, psychological take on the national pastime. What I found, however, was a movie that was a complete mess from beginning to end.

For a basic plot summary, "The Phenom" tells the story of Hopper Gibson (Johnny Simmons), an enormously talented pitching prospect who is having trouble harnessing his control. As a result, Hopper is sent to world-renowned sports psychologist Dr. Mobley (Paul Giamatti) in hopes of getting himself straightened out. During the course of his visits to Mobley, flashbacks reveal that many of Hop's problems may stem from overbearing father Hopper Sr. (Ethan Hawke).

The main problem with "The Phenom" is that it doesn't create any sort of emotional connection between the characters and the viewers. It basically just throws out a number of baseball clichés in place of meaningful character development. Even in the presence of some great actors (Giamatti & Hawk), this script/story just doesn't hold up. Heck, had the film just given me what the trailer showed it would have been at least decent. However, it ends up a muddled mess of clichés, flashbacks, and long dialogue scenes that don't seem to go anywhere or mean anything in the end.

Another big issue with the movie? I hate to criticize one single individual for the failure of an entire movie, but I will say this: Simmons (as the lead Hopper) either gave a poor performance or just wan't right for the roll. Never once did I feel caught up in what he was going through, likely because it didn't seem like he himself was too interested, either. I read a comment where this movie was called the "Good Will Hunting" (a film I don't enjoy all that much) of baseball flicks, but even in that effort at least Matt Damon gave a great effort as a mentally tortured youth. Simmons' character shows no such promise here.

So, unfortunately, "The Phenom" ended up being one of the poorest movies I've seen in quite some time. Whoever cut the trailer sure knew what they were doing, but other than that nothing goes right. The film needed to either go whole-hog into the baseball clichés, or not use them at all. Instead, the muddled middle is reached which, combined with a dud lead actor performance, sinks the entire project. I can't recommend this one in any way, shape, or form to anyone.

This film tells the story of a young baseball player in high school, who loses his pitch and hence worries about his potential future as a professional player. He enlists a sports psychologist to help him through the difficult times.

I had no idea what the film before watching the film, as the title doesn't give anything away. Honestly, I have no idea what the film is about after watching it either. The beginning looks promising, as the door psychologist talks with the young athlete. Then, it gets downhill and have no clear focus. I don't know whether it wants to talk about the father, the psychologist or what. I get so lost in the half developed plot, where subplots are underdeveloped. And the ending is so abrupt that the story is literally unfinished. I regret having watched this film because I think I wasted my time.

As my first experience with a film from writer/director Noah Buschel, I worry that his five earlier efforts also exhibit a sore lack of editing. Did not spot any editor credit (other than that of an assistant or something) and believe Noah Buschel handled it himself. He seems unable to discard anything he films (a lesson all great directors learn to do). Cast is fine, but scenes don't join together for a unified whole and often reach points of stagnation as well as present conflicts of information.

Having just finished Rick Ankiel's book, The Phenomenon, and just finishing this movie, I think it's pretty obvious the plot is based on his story. As mentioned in the FAQ, nobody has come out and said the movie is based on Ankiel but the many similarities are striking and pretty hard to ignore. Here are a few:

1) Ankiel attended Port St. Lucie HS like the main character, 2) Ankiel's dad was crazy, abusive and overbearing. Ankiel even talks about him screaming at and intimidating his HS coaches. He also took credit for Rick's success, 3) Like the movie's main character, Ankiel told people his father was a fisherman and hung drywall, when in reality he was a drug dealer who spent time in prison, 4) The main character in the movie plays in the Atlanta Braves organization, which was Ankiel's favorite team growing up, 5) After he loses his control in the 2000 playoffs, Ankiel moves down to the minors and spends a ton of time with sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman, and they talk a lot about his past with an abusive father.

Those are just some of the glaring similarities so it seems pretty obvious this movie was inspired by Rick Ankiel's story. As usual, artistic license has added and changed certain parts of the story but it seems pretty obvious this movie was based on Ankiel's story.

I'd consider the overall production below average, in part due to the lack of character development. However, I applaud the ambition for undertaking a difficult and often unspoken aspect of professional sports. The "yips" is a well-known phenomenon in the baseball world, but one that players avoid in daily conversation because of its ability to sneak up on any player at any time, and the emotional toll it takes on its victims.

Because this theme seemed to take precedence, I was willing to overlook the main character's unrealistically poor pitching mechanics and the frequent and awkward misuse of baseball terminology. It would have been nice if the movie focused a bit more on the emotional turmoil experienced in the player's personal life as he tries to overcome his affliction. This seems to be a product of the lack of character development. Additionally, I think beginning the movie with various notable events throughout the pitcher's childhood would have provided some more context, added some character development, and provided a good foundation for the rest of the movie.

"It doesn't matter what I want cause I have a contract, and you know what, I'll tell you something. They picked the wrong guy because I'm just an ordinary kid." Hopper (Simmons) is a star baseball pitcher that has recently been demoted after a shaky outing. He is sent to psychologist Dr. Mobley (Giamatti) in hopes of him figuring out what is wrong. When Hopper begins to talk about his overbearing father (Hawke) Mobley begins to understand what Hopper's problem is. But it may be too late. I am a huge sucker for all sports movies and I love Paul Giamatti so I was really excited about watching this. I have to say though this is nothing like I expected. At the risk of over simplifying, the movie is basically a baseball player version of Good Will Hunting. Simmons actually plays the part perfect as a kid who isn't sure what he wants anymore and is essentially going though the motions while his dad tries to totally control him. I could keep going on about this but if you liked Good Will Hunting I would recommend this as well. Overall, not what I expected, it was better. I give this a B+.