Movie Review for Hardball

Summary: An aimless young man can't seem to stop gambling, drinking, and scalping tickets, even though all of his friends are settling down and making good money at legitimate jobs. Desperate for cash, he secures a loan from an acquaintance by agreeing to coach the Little League team of the Cabrini Green housing projects in Chicago. His new job gives him purpose and he starts to turn his life around.

                         Reviews of Hardball
By Brian Webster of Apollo Guide (7/0)
            Simple, predictable, and marginally satisfying.

By Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/0)
            More a double than a home run, but worth a look.

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            We're always aware of the formula--and in a picture based on real life, we shouldn't be.

By David Keyes of Cinemaphile.org (7/0)
            ...the halfhearted result of hundreds of sports movie and coming-of-age-flick clichés, thrown tog...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (7/0)
            A formulaic but amusing tale of a loser who becomes a winner by losing himself in the service of ...

By Erik Childress of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            Movies like Hardball (with it's cut down "PG-13" rating) shy away from reality in order to appeas...

                         Reviews of Hardball
By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            By the end ... I fled the theater with ill wishes for everyone involved, including the projection...

By Eugene Novikov of Film Blather (7/0)
            It could have been an extraordinary story in a familiar framework; instead, it's a conventional s...

By Bruce Feld of Film Journal International (7/0)
            What is striking about Brian Robbins' forceful direction of Hardball is its unwillingness to comp...

By Pete Croatto of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            Cutesy, cuddly pap.

By Don Irvine of Globe and Mail (7/0)
            This is a film designed not so much to tell a coherent and moving story as it is to deliver a van...

By Ross Anthony of Hollywood Report Card (7/0)
            "Hardball" is hard PG-13.

                         Reviews of Hardball
By David Hunter of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            Aims for the gut but instead beans the viewer with a wildly unbelievable yarn.

By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (7/0)
            Contains more miraculous conversions than a revival.

By JoBlo of JoBlo's Movie Emporium (7/0)
            If you enjoyed Remember the Titans and don't mind sitting through a fairly predictable movie with...

By Bob Bloom of Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN) (7/0)
            Hardball may sound like an inner-city remake of The Bad News Bears, but the sunny, light touch of...

By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (7/0)
            The toughness, tragedy and street slang built into it give it an aura of reality.

By Jon Niccum of Lawrence Journal-World (7/0)
            The Hollywood adaptation admirably avoids the urge to sanitize the material -- this isn't Mighty ...

                         Reviews of Hardball
By Mark Dujsik of Mark Reviews Movies (7/0)
            Does what it’s supposed to do, and it occasionally goes a little farther than it needs to.

By Michael Dequina of Mr. Brown's Movies (7/0)
            Amounts to a two-hour torture session that would make one long for the great beyond.

By Jim Chastain of Norman Transcript (7/0)
            The film has heart.

By Edward Johnson-Ott of NUVO Newsweekly (7/0)
            Beneath the sappy music and formulaic story, the core of the film rang true.

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Despite its title, it's too soft and squishy for comfort, and while it can't be counted a strike...

By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (7/0)
            The fact that Conor is white means nothing, of course, except that he's one in a long line of whi...

                         Reviews of Hardball
By James Kendrick of Q Network Film Desk (7/0)
            one of those irritatingly "well-intentioned" movies that constantly falls flat because it offers ...

By Andrew Manning of Radio Free Entertainment (7/0)
            Can easily be an inspirational, feel good movie if you let it--as long as you abandon any hope fo...

By Pam Grady of Reel.com (7/0)
            It may not go yard, but it doesn't strike out either.

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            Reeves has charm to spare with the kids and Lane but fails to convince in his drinking, gambling ...

By Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            ...isn't all it could be but its heart is definitely in the right place.

By Harry Guerin of RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) (7/0)
            Home runs for all the young actors with Reeves stuck at second base.

                         Reviews of Hardball
By Jim Lane of Sacramento News & Review (7/0)
            Gatins' script is a hopeless mess.

By Bob Graham of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            Works where it counts, on the emotional level.

By Jim Judy of Screen It! (7/0)
            A routine film that follows the predictable path to such a degree that it could very well end up ...

By William Arnold of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            Shallow, incompetent, hopelessly contrived.

By Moira MacDonald of Seattle Times (7/0)
            Just dreadful.

By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            Proves that wise-*** minority kids are far cooler than potty-mouthed white kids.

                         Reviews of Hardball
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Practice (7/0)
            An enjoyable movie about the how some of us learn when we least expect it

By Rob Blackwelder of SPLICEDWire (7/0)
            Hardball is not some warm-fuzzy Bad News Bears clone transplanted to the projects. It's considera...

By Tony Toscano of Talking Pictures (U.S.) (7/0)
            A manipulative and superficial film using the worst type of theatrical trick to wrench the audien...

By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (7/0)
            Akin to a thrift shop novelty that is way past its prime.

By Urban Cinefile Critics of Urban Cinefile (7/0)
            …a formulaic feel-good kind of film with cute kids and Keanu Reeves appeal. I wanted to like it m...

By Robert Koehler of Variety (7/0)
            There's no cork inside Hardball, but there's more than enough corn.

                         Reviews of Hardball
By Stephen Holden of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Does surprisingly few lurches as it walks the tightrope between urban realism ... and family ente...

By David Germain of Associated Press (3/4) No reference
            Hardball is a two-hankie sports soap opera, but don’t hold that against it. With surprising melod...

By Mark Caro of Chicago Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Hardball remains watchable when it's not hitting you like a baseball bat with poignancy. But by t...

By Jackie Potts of Citysearch (3/4) No reference
            From The Matrix to this? Reeves should pay us to sit through this chilling, inner-city sports dra...

By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (6/1) No reference
            This film is so artificial, so contrived and so full of itself, it not only makes you wonder exac...

By Sean O'Connell of Eclipse Magazine (3/4) No reference
            Hardball might have been a decent movie, if it wasn't so racially insensitive, monotonous, stale,...

                         Reviews of Hardball
By John Kryk of Jam! Movies (3/4) No reference
            Hardball is striking in its portrayals of just how despicable, and frightening, life in the ghett...

By Louis B. Hobson of Jam! Movies (3/4) No reference
            It may not hit any home runs, but Hardball keeps its bases loaded, providing enough fun and excit...

By James Sanford of Kalamazoo Gazette (6/1) No reference
            It's exactly the sort of raw, powerhouse filmmaking you'd expect from director Brian Robbins, who...

By Duane Dudek of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (3/4) No reference
            Young people in particular, whose sense of security has been shattered, might find its message of...

By Nell Minow of Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies (6/1) No reference
            Hardball is a softball, and this umpire calls it out at first base.

By Michael Elliott of Movie Parables (3/4) No reference
            Manages to score enough runs to make it a winner.

                         Reviews of Hardball
By Cody Clark of Mr. Showbiz (3/4) No reference
            Strikes out looking.

By Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel (3/4) No reference
            A misshapen mess which relies on shameless manipulation and cute casting to cover its lack of a p...

By Sean Means of Salt Lake Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Director Brian Robbins doesn't just push our emotional buttons -- he works them over with an alum...

By David Elliott of San Diego Union-Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Minor league actor could use pinch hitter.

By Joe Leydon of San Francisco Examiner (3/4) No reference
            There's a word for this kind of storytelling: lazy.

By Norman Wilner of Toronto Star (3/4) No reference
            There's nothing wrong with a good cry, or a good cliche, and Hardball offers both by the barrel.

                         Reviews of Hardball
By John A. Nesbit of ToxicUniverse.com (6/1) No reference
            Had Paramount played more team ball, they coulda been a contender.

By Rene Rodriguez of Miami Herald (6/1) Not Reachable
            Cynics may roll their eyes at Hardball's earnestness, but the movie proves even the most conventi...

By Don Russell of Philadelphia Daily News (3/4) Not Reachable
            'Coach' Reeves notwithstanding, this is baseball the way we always imagined, as an American pasti...

By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (3/4) Not Reachable
            The coach is the nominal main character, not the players, and, thus, Hardball is focused on the l...

Movie Distributors
Paramount Pictures

Production Companies
Fireworks Pictures
Alphaville
Tina Nides Productions
Tollin/Robbins Productions

Movie Studios
Paramount Pictures