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Year:    2001
Studio:  Paramount Pictures, Fireworks Pictures
Feature: 3/5
DVD:     3/5

Keanu Reeves teaching a group of inner city kids how to play baseball. That's the premise of Hardball. What we end up with is a more serious version of the Bad News Bears.

Reeves plays Conor O'Neill, a gambling with a huge debt he needs to pay off. He gets a job as a little league coach where he has to deal with a bunch of kids who want to play baseball but have no experience with the game or with playing with others. Conor has a somewhat ally and somewhat love interest in schoolmarm Elizabeth Wilkes (Diane Lane) and he has a best gambling friend in Ticky Tobin (John Hawkes).

Really though this is a movie about the kids. All the kids were new to acting and they did a good job. The story was fairly typical of the genre except with a darker ending. There's nothing really remarkable about the film to recommend it.
Extras

The Making of Hardball - 12 minutes.
Deleted Scenes - 3 scenes, 7 minutes.
Commentary with director Brian Robbins and writer John Gatins
Music Video "Hardball" (Lil Bow Wow and others)
Interstitials - 2 commercials
Theatrical Trailer

Copyright (c) 2005 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: March 30, 2005
Page Last Updated: March 30, 2005