“Hey, Alex. Whatcha watchin’?”
“Trouble
with the Curve. Clint Eastwood
plays a salty old baseball scout whose eyesight is going. Amy Adams is his daughter. She works for an uptight law firm, has
issues with her dad, and has a boyfriend who is clearly The Wrong Guy. Justin Timberlake just showed up; he’s
going to be her new love interest and win her heart from The Wrong Guy. I’m not sure whether it’ll be before or
after she works things out with Clint and quits her job at the firm.”
“Oh. How far along are you?”
“About ten minutes. I know where the movie’s going, but
that’s ok. A movie like this, it’s
all in the execution.”
And I’m happy to report that Trouble with the Curve executes very
nicely. Featuring a supporting
cast led by John Goodman and some of the best character actors in the business
(Ed Lauter, George Wyner, Bob Gunton, Matthew Lillard, Robert Patrick, etc.),
this by-the-numbers family drama succeeds on the basis of its unobtrusive
direction, solid production values, and excellent performances. It isn’t flashy, but it looks nice,
covers the bases, and gives us an excuse to spend ninety minutes or so with a
bunch of good people who are trying to do the right thing. Heck, it even features a
“roadhouse” scene in which Adams and Timberlake try to convince us that they
can’t really dance.
This film played out
just as I thought it would, but it did so with satisfying professionalism. If you’re tired of watching computer
animations of demigods punching one another, you can’t go wrong with Trouble with the Curve.
