Cover of White Men Can’t Jump
I missed a lot of movies during my long life as a wage slave, working usually at night. In retirement, I hope to make up for a lot of missed movies.
Tonight I saw the urban basketball movie, “White Men Can’t Jump,” for the first time ever. What a great story! What trash talk! Male bonding! Best music sound track of a sports movie since “Bull Durham.” Best romantic scenes in a sports movie since “Bull Durham.” I measure all movies by the “Bull Durham” standard.
Also: “Some days you win, some days you lose, and some days it rains.” And for another baseball movie, starring Clint Eastwood, which may or may not stand the test of time, see “Trouble With The Curve.” (my review from Sept. 2012) –John
You want romance and character development? See Bull Durham. Justin Timberlake and Amy Adams in Trouble With The Curve aren’t in the same league with Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham.
Trouble With The Curve is all Clint Eastwood. The romance is fluff. Baseball is only the setting. Trouble With The Curve is about life and loss, failure and decline, maybe even aging gracefully. Not that I’m calling Clint Eastwood graceful.
Trouble With The Curve begins as a baseball movie that only a grumpy old man could love. But it fools you like a curveball in the dirt, and turns into, of all things, a chick flick. It might be the best baseball/romance combination since Bull Durham. Both movies are about life-changing events, about going with the curveballs life throws at you.
How do you get away with casting Clint Eastwood and Justin Timberlake in the same film? You add Amy Adams as daughter of the old man and love interest of the young one.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Baseball. It’s an easy game.
You throw the ball. You catch the ball. You hit the ball. So says the skipper in Bull Durham. Good advice; authoritative, no embellishment.
EASY GAME: HIT THE BULL AND WIN A STEAK. Plus, you get a home run. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
He wasn’t talking inside baseball, of course. That’s a whole ‘nother thing. Inside baseball is complicated. You run into statistics right away. Statistics are hard. Inside baseball can be mystifying, to an outsider.
Maybe tennis is a better example. Tennis is an easy game. A tennis instructor once said this: “Serving is easy. Toss the ball up, and hit it.” Easy for him to say. He demonstrated. He made it look easy. Continue reading
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