Dissent. I thought the movie was dull, predictable, and had no nuance.
This film is largely a character study about the relationship between a father and daughter. But, neither of them undergo a realistic story arc and there is no sense of "change" in their characters over the course of the movie. Sure, things are magically better at the ham-fisted and obvious happy end of the film, but I did not get a sense of why things were better. Is Clint no longer a loner? Has he learned to deal with his rapidly deteriorating body? Is he able to recognize his own failings? I dunno because the movie never really addresses this, but he proves he can still pick out a glaringly obvious flaw in a baseball player so I guess everything is fine. Sheesh!
There is a reason critics are not liking this one very much, the script felt like it was written by a 12-year-old. It had no depth. What's more, I didn't like any of the characters. I was almost rooting for Clint to fail in his final scouting trip because he was such an unlikeable person. Amy Adams was scarcely more likeable. I thought Justin Timberlake was a fun character, right up until the minute that he started acting like a jerk for no obvious reason in the final minutes of the film.
To make matters worse, the story was not realistic and made no sense if you know anything at all about baseball so it could not even pass as a good baseball movie.
I was bored. My wife didn't like it. 3 critic friends of mine who were in the screening with me were laughing at how bad it was. No way folks should pay movie ticket prices to go see this one. If you are really dying to see it, wait 4 or 5 weeks and it will be at the discount cinemas.
If you want to pay full price for a movie this weekend, go see End of Watch**, which is one of the best-acted, most realistic cop stories I have ever seen. Now that is a great flick! Easily on my 10 best list for the year.
-Jason "Trouble With the Curve is not doing well at the boxoffice -- it was supposed to win the weekend easily but looks like it is only going to make mid-high teens this weekend, far less than anticipated" Evans
**- Note, lots of language and some hard violence too