After famously missing out on Indiana Jones/RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK/’81 when CBS held him to his MAGNUM, P.I. contract, Tom Selleck continued to flirt with, but just miss, the big time on the big screen.* With the exception of THE LOVE LETTER/’99 (a Kate Capeshaw vanity project), this was his last try to crack feature film as leading man. And, like his other attempts, much better than its rep or box-office would have you think. Under imaginative direction from Fred Schepisi (and regular D.P. Ian Baker), finding new angles on an old game (and no Slo-Mo crap), Selleck’s slumping Yankee gets demoted to Japan for a tune-up and star rehabilitation. You’ll guess the rest (though a triple twist at the end faked me out), but the fun’s in how West Baseball is West and East Baseball is East and somehow the twain do meet. Some of the Ugly American cultural clichés probably a bit moldy even in ‘93 (why not make Selleck hip to sushi; ultra-smooth handling chopsticks; slurping noodles to beat the band before his new girl’s relatives noisily join him?). But having Selleck as self-centered asshole (with a terrific clout at bat) pushes him so far out of his comfort zone, he becomes more interesting to watch than usual. Elsewise: Japanese manager Ken Takakura* teaches him discipline; Selleck responds by getting him and his team to loosen up. And about halfway thru, those lessons start showing up, not only on the characters, but in the film DNA. Fun! (*And look who dominates the Japanese poster.)
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Selleck was like a ball player trying to get out of the Minors and join ‘The Show.’ It’s nearly the plot of this pic.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Pace A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN's 'No crying in baseball' rule, this must be the only baseball pic in decades without a tear in sight.
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