- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
80A surefire heart-tugger made with skill and judgment, affords Keanu Reeves a career high point.
-
75Cynics may roll their eyes at Hardball's earnestness, but the movie proves even the most conventional stories can move and engage you, provided they're told well.
-
Blends its seemingly disparate elements into a coherent film that's entertaining, funny, sad and even a bit uplifting and inspirational.
-
70It may follow a formula, but sometimes formula equals comforting routine. And there are times, in the movies and elsewhere, when routine is exactly what you need.
-
70Its uplifting message about teamwork and caring wouldn't hurt a fly. You might even say, the movie is good for you.
-
70Toward the end of Hardball, the story takes a jolting turn from heartwarming to tear-jerking that people might find cruelly manipulative. Perhaps under normal circumstances, I would too. But these are not normal circumstances, and instead of put off, I was completely undone.
-
70Surprisingly brusque yet likable film.
-
70Hardball is not as bad as it sounds, and at its best it's charming.
-
63It drifts above the surface of its natural subjects, content to be a genre picture. We're always aware of the formula--and in a picture based on real life, we shouldn't be.
-
63A by-the-numbers tearjerker notable mostly for the most adorable little sluggers this side of the "Bad News Bears."
-
63Those who were upset by the tragic ending of last year's "Pay It Forward" should be warned away.
-
It is only when Reeves meets up with his incredibly cute baseball team that this movie comes to life.
-
50Remains watchable when it's not hitting you like a baseball bat with poignancy. But by the time you've endured all of the shamelessly manipulative plot turns and heart-yanking speeches that close out the movie, all you can do is cry foul.
-
50Hardball works where it counts, on the emotional level.
-
50Ultimately, the kids carry this manipulative tear-jerker. They're warm, lively charmers.
-
50The filmmakers realize that playing baseball isn't nearly enough to fix what's wrong in these kids' lives, which might have made a more provocative ending than what follows.
-
40The actors playing the team members have stereotypical roles, but these kids have got game.
-
40When the boys are tossing balls around and bopping in time to Notorious B.I.G., they -- and the film -- are right-on.
-
40Until its dismaying final 15 minutes, this baseball redemption movie sails along on the charms of cute kids and a star who makes up in bone structure what he lacks in talent.
-
40There's no cork inside Hardball, but there's more than enough corn. Everything about the movie is geared for maximum uplifting and tear-jerking effect, and seems designed, in the end, to question the old saw that there's no crying in baseball.
-
38As shallow and manipulative a movie as any that come to mind.
-
30Along the way, director Brian Robbins indulges Reeves in too many laughable inspirational speeches. He also wastes the terrific Diane Lane in the thankless role of the kids' dedicated teacher.
-
25The movie is so littered with clichés of genre, as well as clichés of artifice in Reeves' pained performance, that any semblance of social reality goes foul.
-
25Wants to be an offbeat, hard-edged, inspirational sports movie, but it misses its target by a country mile.
-
10The film takes a true story and drags it through a swamp of hyped-up Hollywood cliches.
prev
next
Page:
- 1
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 34 out of 35
-
Mixed: 0 out of 35
-
Negative: 1 out of 35
-
ChadR.10
-
DestineeB.10