Once upon
a time, Disney could be counted on to make family-friendly
G-rated films that were not only good for the kids but pleasant
for their parents, too. Not just in their animated division, but
in their live-action division as well. This was the studio
behind classic realizations of Treasure Island, Swiss
Family Robinson, Old Yeller and Freaky Friday
after all.
But those
days have been long gone for some time. Now the best Disney
seems to be able to produce are saccharine and over-cute tales
like The Princess Diaries or remakes of their own
classics such as The Parent Trap. I won’t even go into
anemic fare like Snow Dogs, an execrable howler if there
ever was one. Even last year’s hit Remember the Titans
tried much too hard. While good intentioned, it was still
nothing more than a near miss.
How
wonderful is it, then, to see Disney making a G-rated film that
the whole family can’t help but enjoy. Such is the case with
The Rookie, the true story of Texan Jimmy Morris (Quaid),
who in his 30’s tried out for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and
became the oldest rookie in Major League Baseball history. What
on paper could have been sophomoric treacle instead is one of
the young year’s fresh finds.
A high
school science teacher and baseball coach, Morris’ team isn’t
going anywhere. They’re uninspired, treading water in a town
that treats football players like gods while not even
acknowledging this team’s existence. What more, the program
itself is in danger of being axed due to administration budget
cuts, so unless the team can generate some excitement the boys
may have to start looking for another outlet to channel their
energies.
Morris can
understand how the children feel. He’s still holding onto a tiny
twinge of regret over his own lost chances. Once upon a time,
Jimmy Morris was one of Texas’ best major league prospects. But
injuries ravaged his arm, making the once-promising pitcher
nothing more than a has been who never got the chance to be.
Yet, he’s
made a good life for himself despite these setbacks. Morris has
a wife, Lorri (Griffiths), who loves him dearly and a young son
Hunter (Angus T. Jones) who looks up to him like no tomorrow.
What more, he’s got a good shot at a better teaching job in a
larger school district which would mean more money for his
growing family.
But the
coach’s dormant arm won’t let him forget the past. What’s more,
the years away from the game have been kind to it, and whether
through the grace of God or a fluke in genetic healing, Morris’
arm is more powerful now than it ever was in his youth.
The kids
on his team seize on their coach’s excellence right away. While
challenging them to play their best, the team turns the tables
on Morris, betting him that if they can win the district
championship and go to the high school playoffs, then in return
he needs to try out again for Major League Baseball – some
twenty-odd years since his first attempt.
This is
feel-good filmmaking at its finest. There may not be any mystery
as to where The Rookie is heading – we’ve figured that
out in the first frame – but getting there is a real joy all the
same. John Lee Hancock directs with a down-home style that fits
the film and its characters like a glove, and Mike Rich’s (Finding
Forrester) screenplay is full of life and character. They’ve
remembered that these types of uplifting entertainments are only
as good as the characters that populate them – see Hoosiers
and the original Rocky for sublime proof of that – and
they’ve gone out of their way to create flesh and blood
specimens.
They’ve
also assembled an excellent cast. The group of young actors that
make up Morris’s team come off just right, hitting those
exhilarating unsure high-school years perfectly. Six Feet
Under’s Griffiths continues her string of sterling work –
she was an Oscar nominee for Hilary and Jackie after all
– making Lorri as three-dimensional as my next-door neighbor.
Also quite good is Brian Cox as Morris’ estranged father,
proving once more he might be one of the most under-appreciated
actors of our time.
But The
Rookie belongs to Quaid. Here is an actor born to be in a
baseball film. He is never anything less than believable as the
stalwart Morris. More than that, though, Quaid just seems to get
better and better as the years go by. So good early in his
career in films like The Big Easy and Everybody’s All
American, over the last few seasons he’s been better known
as Meg Ryan’s other half (well, until she left him to have a
fling with Russell Crowe).
Not
anymore. Quaid’s comeback to respectability started with his
heralded turn as Doc Holiday in Lawrence Kasadan’s otherwise
anemic Wyatt Earp, and continued with stirring
performances in Flesh and Bone, Any Given Sunday
and Traffic. Always appreciated more for his million-watt
smile than for his gifts as a thespian, Quaid proves his metal
as Morris. You can just feel the years as they ripple off of him
as the eager coach starts really pitching again for the first
time, and Quaid’s interactions with his wife and child are
nothing less than magical.
All in
all, The Rookie deserves a place in that hallowed
pantheon of great baseball films, sitting alongside Bull
Durham, Pride of the Yankees, Field of Dreams
and Eight Men Out. This is a great film fit for the whole
family in the time-honored Disney tradition and – to use the
vernacular – a real homerun. Now, here’s to hoping the studio
can keep it up.
