Friday Flicks: Field of Dreams

The offseason can be tough on baseball fans. Why not get your baseball fix through the Silver Screen? All offseason long, check out “Friday Flicks” at lunchtime for a baseball movie review. Want to suggest a movie for review? Comment below with the title.

Last week, our movie was a based-on-a-true-story portrayal of a man’s baseball dreams.  This week’s flick is about a midwestern Field of Dreams (1989).

Kevin Costner in another baseball movie? Color me surprised. #sarcasm. This is the third baseball movie starring Costner that I have reviewed this offseason, and it was the most underwhelming. I actually had a handful of people tell me to skip this movie, but I was determined to review a movie that I remembered fondly and that many others considered a classic.

I didn’t hate it. It just moved slowly and held no mystery. The movie begins with a mysterious voice that speaks to Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Costner), telling him “If you build it, he will come,” the most famous line from the movie. Ray quickly figures out that he needs to build a baseball diamond in place of a portion of his cornfield, presumably so Shoeless Joe Jackson can redeem himself.

Relatively quickly, Kinsella convinces his wife that the voice is real, and he proceeds to follow the unexplained promptings on a journey to Boston, Minnesota, and back to Iowa. Financial whoas loom, but Kinsella’s family insists on trusting the mysterious voice. I know, dear reader, that you’re too smart to wonder whether or not this PG movie works out. So, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that I’ll encourage you to watch the movie to figure out how it works out for the Kinsella family. Despite the sub-par storyline, it did produce a line that baseball fans can all appreciate:

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball."

Is it a hit? This might be baseball movie blasphemy…but I give it a single. In fairness, I will say that my expectations were quite high. I saw it 15-20 years ago, when I was a teen or preteen. This wouldn’t be the first time a memory from my youth has disappointed me. It would be a great movie for a family to enjoy together. Maybe someday, I can watch it with my niece. She’s two now, so another six or eight years ought to be just right to watch it again. Despite its nastalgia, a movie trait that I’m usually a sucker for, this flick lacked enough substance to be great.

Come back next week for a documentary about the controversial catch of a homerun hit by a controversial player.

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