Hey folks, Harry here. Have you ever seen Preston Sturges' UNFAITHFULLY YOURS? The old 1948 Preston Sturges comedy with Rex Harrison? Well, when I first heard the concept of FOR LOVE OF THE GAME, I instantly flashed upon that classic. That was a dark dark black comedy featuring Rex Harrison conducting an orchestra whilst contemplating some very funny and dire things. As each movement of the performance is finished so is the memory. When Raimi was signed, I imagined this as being the baseball version of that. BUT... I have since become aware of Michael Shaara's original novel (He's the same fella that wrote the novel on which GETTYSBURG was based) and realized this was going to be a serious endeavor. Having witnessed Raimi's maturing with A SIMPLE PLAN, I have been very very excited about this film and it sounds like things are going grand based on this look at an early screening. (BTW, this spy has contributed many times but under a different name) The film is scheduled for the time being to be released in mid-September. Can't wait to see what Raimi has cooked up for us this time! BEWARE OF SPOILERS BELOW!

Nuke LaLoosh reporting in.

FOR LOVE OF THE GAME (spoilers)

Kevin Costner is back in another baseball movie and Sam Raimi's directing. Costner plays Billy Chapel, 19 yr veteran of the Detroit Tigers. He was their star pitcher at one time but his shoulder's feeling the years. It's the last game of the season for the Tigers, a throw away game against the Yankees, but he gets called for the start. Before the game he learns a ton of things, nothing good. The team has just been sold and guess who's the first to be traded away after the game. Ontop of that, his on again off again girlfriend Jane (Kelly Preston) is headed overseas to pursue her career as a magazine editor. Arm hurting and against better judgement from longtime friend and catcher Gus (John Reilly), he goes out to the mound and gives it his all, while doing so, reflecting on the last 5 years of life, love, friendships, hard times.

Baseball has been berry berry good to Costner. He fits well into the role of Billy. It's a combination of Crash Davis and Ray Kinsella, but a little older and a bit more serious. In this movie, baseball is what Billy knows best, he's grown up a winning pitcher and has known nothing else, that's when Jane steps in. They have a fling that wants to get more serious, but they try to it keep in check since they only get together while he's in town, she's in NYC. Preston does ok, but as the relationship goes on, it seems a bit distant and underwritten. The quest for bliss is formulaic. Love you, hate you, i need you, go away. And the introduction to her daughter Heather (Jena Malone) starts off great [there's a great scene as Billy has to get her back from Boston and brings her on the team plane], but then she's never really used in an effective capacity to get the two back together after a split. Plus she sure gets left alone a lot at home for Jane to go places with Billy. Well, they seem to want reaction to the ending and with a month away from release, I guess there could be changes, we'll see when it comes out.

As for the baseball scenes, Raimi did one hell of a job. He truly captured the magic of the moment. From the first inning to the last inning. Not often do you have a full crowd cheering during a movie, treating it as if they were at a game. I just wished, since they shot this in the off season, that they used the REAL Yankees players and it felt funny listening to Vin Scully, a Dodger Broadcaster.

There was a greater need for more backstory on a lot of characters introduced. His relationship with his catcher, with his best friend who got traded to the Yankees and is hitting against Billy, more about his parents and why his dad pushed him in baseball, how Heather felt about Billy besides the brief glimpses of her. It was a good movie though. Like I said, it's hard for Costner to go wrong with baseball. And the older crowd, which seems to be the target audience enjoyed it. It'll do well when it's released around or after the World Series.