A workmanlike but pleasant drama that manages not to overstay its welcome. Clint Eastwood is his usual cantankerous self, but Trouble with the Curve really belongs to the always luminous Amy Adams, who imbues her character with both bristle and emotion. She also shares an unforced chemistry with Justin Timberlake, and their romance is played in a pretty low-key fashion. I wish the movie had actually been more about baseball than it actually was, but it makes for a heartwarming and relatively undemanding family flick. B

did anyone else not know timberlake was in this?

Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams make an otherwise piece of shit actually work, even though their relationship is both never fully developed and resolved. There are a lot of "Where were you dad?" moments, but they don't lead anywhere except telling the audience that she was almost raped by some groundskeeper until Eastwood kicked his ass (his attention was apparently diverted by a horse...?). They get into a fight, she kind of accepts it, and I guess all is forgiven? I wouldn't have minded the vagueness if something had been implied.

The movie also doesn't know jack shit about baseball outside of throwing in a few trivia questions that's supposed to be foreplay between Adams and Timberlake. But if that's all they have to talk about their relationship is fucking doomed. It's also horrible foreplay. And Timberlake is also horribly miscast here. We're supposed to buy him as a washed up former pitcher from the Red Sox? We're also supposed to buy that the Red Sox will give him a vacant broadcasting gig if he does a good job as a scout? What the fuck? If he did a good job as a scout wouldn't they want him at the very least to remain a scout or maybe become a coach? Not to mention his "high" voice would be all wrong for broadcasting.

And to completely write off Moneyball and computers (EASTWOOD IS OLD. GET IT?)... It all feels like a cheesy melodrama from the 50's that has no idea what the real world is actually like. Guess what? Computers can actually tell if a player has instincts or not. Why? A very simple thing called statistics. A computer can keep track of them and then predict. In what world does this movie live in?

It should also be noted that the key prospect everyone is scouting looks like he's about to keel over at any minute because he's too overweight to be anything more than a designated hitter (which is why the Braves are so interested in him? For anyone who doesn't follow baseball, a designated hitter only occurs in the American League where instead of having the pitcher hit, one player is designated to hit in his place. This player is usually overweight, on steroids, and is horrible in the field. Yet in this film, the Braves, a National League team that doesn't have this luxury, thinks he's the second coming of Albert Puljos? And they can't even recognize he can't hit a curve ball? If this took place in the real world these people wouldn't have jobs).

Yet despite all this, the movie still works because Eastwood and Adams (and even Timberlake to a certain extent even though he's miscast) with the help of a solid supporting performance by John Goodman, elevate the material just enough to make this a nice pleasant sit.

The movie doesn't know a damn thing about baseball, but who'll notice?

*** (B)

Adams is wonderful as usual. Clint is just giving the same performance he gave in Gran Torino. Some of his dialogue was a little cringe-inducing. It was meant to be funny but was just too obvious. It was a pleasant enough movie but also a fairly forgettable one.

7/10 ( B- )

It was enjoyable, mostly thanks to the performances. Adams was the standout as usual, and I liked her relationship with Timberlake. I thought they had a nice, natural chemistry. B

I honestly thought I'd given this a 6/10 . I re-watched it again the other night with my parents. I think I enjoyed it a hair more watching it with them. I'd still keep the same rating.

Needed more John Goodman.

Its a light drama but it works enough of the time. The cast definitely brings it up from its shortcomings though. I would have liked to have seen a confrontation between Gus and Bo though with the latter being such an asshole.

What a pleasant experience. Clint and Amy are perfection, and elevate what is obviously a deeply-flawed movie. I'm not sure why Clint gave up securing his acting legacy with a big box office smash in Gran Torino by doing what's basically a sappy drama of father/daughter angst mixed with baseball, but if this will be his last acting role (I doubt it), there are certainly worse ways to go. And, for the record, I'd be glad if it was this and not Gran Torino.

Now, I feel like I could have easily wrote the baseball aspects of the movie, which means this movie knows nothing about baseball. And too often it falls into the tropes of both sports dramas and Clint Eastwood later-years films. For the former, it's the seemingly-impossible becoming a reality (Amy Adams just happens to hear this kid throw a pitch, etc etc.). For the latter, it's playing up that CLINT IS OLD. SEE OLD MAN REJECT MODERN TECHNOLOGY. SEE OLD MAN BALK AT NOT BEING HOME AT 9AM. SEE OLD MAN CRASH HIS CAR BECAUSE HE'S OLD. WATCH OUT OLD MAN, YOU'RE GOING TO FALL OOOOOPS OLD MAN FELL DOWN!

There's also a weird Justin Timberlake role that is like almost all other JT roles. He's not as appalling as I always expect him to be, but he never quite brings more to the table than dozens of other actors. I think people want him to be a thing in movies, but it's not going to happen. He's maybe a slightly-above average actor. That doesn't cut it for crossover stars. He needs to be exceptional and he's just pretty good.

All in all, Trouble With the Curve is a C-story with an A-cast of stars, so that pretty much equals a solid B from me. I'd actually pay to see another Clint/Amy pairing as father and daughter, but maybe with slightly lighter content this time (that whole pedophile thing kind of puts a damper on the proceedings).