There's nothing particularly earth-shattering in this movie, which offers a heavily fictionalized account of the goings on in the "All American Girls Professional Baseball League" - a real baseball league formed during the Second World War as a means of keeping interest in the game alive while some of its biggest stars were fighting overseas.
There are some good performances to be found here. Tom Hanks - reunited with Director Penny Marshall (they worked together previously on "Big") offered his usual high calibre performance as Jimmy Dugan - an alcoholic ex-baseball star who (against his will) is assigned to manage the Rockford Peaches. Geena Davis was great as Dottie Hinson, the Peaches catcher and - as Dugan describes her - "the best player in the league." I was also impressed by Lori Petty as Kit Keller, Dottie's little sister. In a relatively brief role through the first half hour or so of the movie, Jon Lovitz was entirely believable as the scout (Ernie Capadino) who discovered Dottie and got her to agree to play. Several other "big" names appear - most notably Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell as teammates on the Peaches.
The movie is in many ways a coming of age story, with at least three subplots all revolving around the theme. First is Dugan's growth as the Peaches manager. Originally not interested in the team, showing up at games late and drunk, falling asleep in the dugout, he becomes almost fanatical in his desire to see the Peaches win the AAGPBL (now there's a mouthful!) World Series. The relationship between Dottie and Kit gets a lot of attention, as Kit's resentment of living in Dottie's shadow grows and grows throughout the movie. Then there's the story of Marla Hootch (played by Megan Cavanaugh), the homely, shy girl, raised by her widowed father as a tomboy, who - ironically enough - learns how to be a "lady" by the time she spends hanging out with "girl baseball players."
All in all, this is a good story, very entertaining, with good acting and good directing from Penny Marshall, who manages to create a real "game feel" in the baseball scenes and keeps us interested in the human interest sidelines without letting them bog us down.
7/10.
There are some good performances to be found here. Tom Hanks - reunited with Director Penny Marshall (they worked together previously on "Big") offered his usual high calibre performance as Jimmy Dugan - an alcoholic ex-baseball star who (against his will) is assigned to manage the Rockford Peaches. Geena Davis was great as Dottie Hinson, the Peaches catcher and - as Dugan describes her - "the best player in the league." I was also impressed by Lori Petty as Kit Keller, Dottie's little sister. In a relatively brief role through the first half hour or so of the movie, Jon Lovitz was entirely believable as the scout (Ernie Capadino) who discovered Dottie and got her to agree to play. Several other "big" names appear - most notably Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell as teammates on the Peaches.
The movie is in many ways a coming of age story, with at least three subplots all revolving around the theme. First is Dugan's growth as the Peaches manager. Originally not interested in the team, showing up at games late and drunk, falling asleep in the dugout, he becomes almost fanatical in his desire to see the Peaches win the AAGPBL (now there's a mouthful!) World Series. The relationship between Dottie and Kit gets a lot of attention, as Kit's resentment of living in Dottie's shadow grows and grows throughout the movie. Then there's the story of Marla Hootch (played by Megan Cavanaugh), the homely, shy girl, raised by her widowed father as a tomboy, who - ironically enough - learns how to be a "lady" by the time she spends hanging out with "girl baseball players."
All in all, this is a good story, very entertaining, with good acting and good directing from Penny Marshall, who manages to create a real "game feel" in the baseball scenes and keeps us interested in the human interest sidelines without letting them bog us down.
7/10.