Before an injury cut short his pitching career, Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) dreamed of playing major league baseball. Now teaching chemistry and coaching high school ball in the small Texas town of Big Lake, Jim, whose fastball has somehow improved over the years, makes a bet with his players: if they make the district championships, he’ll take another shot at the big leagues.

Given that over the past three years the team has won a total of only three games, Jim believes he’ll never have to live up to his end of the bargain, but somehow the team manages to pull it off, and Jim finds himself with a chance of becoming a relief pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

CRITIQUE

The Rookie is another modern day entry in the underdog sports genre, which is virtually all you need to know. Many of the standard clichés are present, the outcome is really never in doubt, and it’s calculated to send audiences out with a smile on their faces and a song in their hearts. But two things set this one apart from its brethren: great performances and an authentic feel for small town life.

Let’s hit the performances first. Quaid, as he almost always is, is great. His innate decency and likeability is put to wonderful use here. The movie works only if you want Morris to succeed, and Quaid instantly makes you want Morris to achieve anything he sets out to do. And he’s completely adept at digging to the heart of any moment.

Mike Rich’s script never really delves into the implications Morris’s decision to chase his dream has on his family, but you always get the impression Quaid is completely aware of the consequences, good or bad; you only have to look at his face and eyes to realize what’s going on in his mind and heart. (For my money, Quaid has never received the acclaim he deserves. Think about this: Does anyone else from Jaws 3-D still have a viable career?)

The supporting cast is also exceptional. Rachel Griffiths manages to rise above the standard supportive wife role, and Beth Grant turns in excellent work in a few scenes as Jim’s mother. And while it wouldn’t be a modern sports flick without a cute kid, the cute kid here isn’t annoying in the least. Morris’s son Hunter, played by Angus T. Jones (best known as the butt of many a joke on Two and a Half Men), comes as close to being portrayed as a normal kid as movies get.

Rich and director John Lee Hancock (making his feature directing debut) really excel at capturing the laid back, quiet aspects of rural life. Hancock himself is from Texas, and he really seems to understand the in and outs of daily life in a town such as Big Lake, where the oil derricks seem out outnumber the people. (His background may help explain why Hancock’s script for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil didn’t seem to understand its setting or characters.) Like many small towns in the South, the citizens practically live for high school sports, especially football (hence the reason Morris is stuck with the school’s second-tier athletes).

It’s really the only respite from their everyday routines, which for most people consists of nothing more than working and providing for their families. (As Morris tells his players, doing nothing more than those two things doesn’t mean you’ve lead a meaningless existence.) Small sports-obsessed towns have become something of a movie cliché, but it’s a cliché based in truth, and Rich and Hancock work to make Big Lake a living, breathing location. And in doing so they make the ending--which, taken at face value, would seem somewhat unlikely--believable and moving.

Hancock could have greatly improved the film had he trimmed it and picked up the pacing. Twenty or twenty-five minutes easily could have been sliced from the running time, and many scenes could have been tightened up. Anyone already familiar with the story obviously knows where it’s headed, and anyone who has no idea who Morris is but has seen a modern sports flick can probably figure out where it’s headed.

That being the case, there’s really no reason for the movie to take its sweet time getting there. (Hancock employs John Hiatt’s “Slow Turning” over one baseball montage, which is both appropriate and somewhat ironic.) As for the story, I wish the relationship between Morris and his father, Jim, Sr. (played here by Brian Cox), had been better developed. As it stands, Jim, Sr. is portrayed as nothing more than the standard career military officer who just doesn’t understand his son.

We’re supposed to believe that much of what fueled Morris’s passion to play in the majors can be traced to his desire to please (or perhaps prove wrong) his father, but Hancock and Rich treat it far too simplistically for it to ring true. And they cap this part of the movie with a scene that’s so pat and trite it comes close to bordering on contempt for the audience. It’s a flaw characteristic of many similar movies, but it’s one I wish filmmakers would work to overcome.

THE VIDEO

Digital noise is the only true imperfection in the 2.35:1/1080p transfer; the Texas skies are often overcast, and the gray clouds tend to exacerbate the noise (and sometimes the film grain). Otherwise the video provides an above average experience, capturing the appropriately naturalistic cinematography nicely. (The film was photographed by John Schwartzman, who the previous year had turned the attack on Pearl Harbor into a series of picture postcards for Michael Bay.) Black levels are solid, colors are realistic, and the level of depth and detail is strong. It’s not a home run, nor it is likely to really catch your eye, but it’s a sound transfer nonetheless.

THE AUDIO

The movie’s sound design heavily favors the front channels, so the uncompressed PCM 5.1 mix won’t wow anyone. But much like the video, it’s a perfectly fitting experience. Dialogue is always crystal clear, and it’s obvious great care was taken to accurately capture the varying sonics of the different locations (notice the shifts as Quaid--in a closed phone booth--and Griffiths--in their home--talk on the phone).

The surrounds are generally only employed to open up the music, although they’re put to nice use during the final half hour, with the bustle of the large stadiums providing a nice counterpoint to the more restrained sounds of Big Lake. Bass action is relegated to the music. English, French, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are also included. English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

The commentary with director John Lee Hancock and Dennis Quaid is really a Hancock-only affair, as Quaid’s comments are few and far between. Hancock goes the biopic director route and discusses the need to balance pleasing the real-life figures being depicted with the need to tell a good story.

Spring Training: Baseball Tips from the Pros (7 minutes) is a series of short hitting, fielding, and pitching lessons.  

The Inspirational Story of Jim Morris (21 minutes) offers more biographical information on Jim Morris. Several of his family members and friends are interviewed, as are select members of the cast and crew. It’s not bad, but I wish it had been a bit longer and had dug a bit deeper.

Closing out the extras are seven deleted scenes (17 minutes total). They’re all just minor character moments, and would have added little (other than more unnecessary length) to the story. Hancock introduces each and briefly explains why it was cut.

FINAL THOUGHT