A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Rookie

Date Viewed: 4/13/02

Details:

Dennis Quaid

Rachel Griffiths

Jay Hernandez

Brian Cox

Beth Grant

Director: John Lee Hancock (for Disney)

Score: 1/2

The Review: OK for a baseball movie.

Based on a true story (and this time you don't have to cringe) of Jim Morris's (played well by Quaid) return to major league baseball, a late interruption to his high-school teaching career. This movie does not have the sex from Bull Durham, nor the mysticism of The Natural, nor the wry and crazy spookiness of Field of Dreams, nor the devilish overtones of Damn Yankees, nor the manic humor of Major League, nor the heartstrings of A League of Their Own, nor the anguished and overwrought biography of For Love of the Game (there sure has been a lot of these movies, hasn't there?! -- and this only scratched the surface). But you will learn about how to grow grass under the predations of deer, and other tidbits of west Texas life. A reasonable addition to the oeuvre; low key.

Watch for the cameo by Morris himself as a base-umpire, later in the movie; he's the one who is MUCH taller than Quaid (!).

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