Re-watching Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year is a good comedy about a 12 year old boy named Henry who gains the ability to pitch like a big league pitcher. He joins the Chicago Cubs.  Thomas Ian Nicholas stars as Henry (this was in his pre-American Pie days). It is odd to see some of the guys from American Pie as parents in later movies but it is also at least interesting seeing some of the American Pie guys in their pre-American Pie work.

Yes this is silly but the Major League movies were silly too.This might on par with those films. The movie loves baseball but I don't think it overly romanticizes the game. There is a scene when a character tells Henry not to take the game too seriously because one day your talent will be gone. For a silly kids movie, I thought was a bit of a surprise. 

The performances are good and the movie is corny.  Gary Busey played an older pitcher recovering from surgery. John Candy has a role as a sportscaster. It was nice to see him. There was another movie about a kid joining a Major League Baseball team called Little Big League. (Actually the kid in Little Big League inherited a Major League team, which is a little different).  Maybe that might be worth seeing again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who’s Harry Crumb is not John Candy’s best film but I liked it

Who’s Harry Crumb stared John Candy as an inept private detective investigating a kidnapping. Of course Harry thinks he is a great detective. (That is the source of the comedy.) His father and grandfather were great detectives. He is assisted by the kidnapped girl’s sister Nicki (Shawnee Smith). They have a good chemistry. I liked John Candy but this is a trifle. I probably should not have bought it but I did. (At least it was reasonably priced.) There was a brief bit where Harry disguises himself as an Indian American (not Native American). I don’t think it was really mean-spirited but it would not go over well today. I guess this might be considered Candy’s attempt to create an inspector Clouseau type character.
Read more

Wanted Man was good

 I finally watched Wanted Man. I think I bought last year. Why I did not watch it before now is something I don’t know. This is a Dolph Lundgren movie about a cop who goes to Mexico to bring back some witnesses. The cop had been caught on video calling a suspect a Mexican lowlife. I think the idea was to get the cop out of town for a few days, let things blow over. Things go wrong and the cop and a surviving witness have get to America. For a while the cop and the witness hide out with her family. There are some nice moments during this time It was good. It is not action packed. There are some action scenes. I like Lundgren as a star and I am not the harshest critic of his movies. He might have directed this one.  Kelsey Grammar was in the film. It has been a while since I have seen him in anything other than Fraiser except for a brief cameo. Yeah, he is one of the villains. This is a direct to video action movie. Don't expect Mission Impossible level stunts.
Read more

Woman of the Hour is decent, maybe more than decent

 Anna Kendrick stars in this movie and directs it. It is based on a real life story about a serial killer on the dating game. Kendrick is good as always. Her character is a struggling actor who goes on the Dating Game to get seen. She has a friendly neighbor who might want be more than a friend.  The movie has flashbacks but not too many. I am anti-flashback but I think this movie worked with flashbacks.  It is interesting. I am not sure how true to life it is. Daniel Zovato plays the serial killer. (I know the ability to research people in the 70s was not what it is now but how did he pass a background check?) I don’t think I have seen him in anything. He can seem charming but can go to creepy quickly. The Dating Game scenes are fun.  Maybe some things here are fictionalized. I liked this section but I have some doubts the way this went down is true to life. This is not bad for a first time director. With her background, I would have expected her to make a romantic ...
Read more