“Trouble With the Curve,” a wholesome story about old men and baseball, marks the first time in nearly 20 years that Clint Eastwood has not both acted and directed in his own movies. However, simply because he stepped aside from his role behind the camera doesn’t mean the character in front of it is any different – he’s as cranky as ever.
Eastwood, who recently co-starred opposite a chair at the Republican National Convention, adds another crotchety old man to his resume: Gus Lobel, a grizzled baseball scout who is slowly losing his vision. He tries to hide the severity of it from everyone, including himself, but when longtime Atlanta Braves colleague Pete (John Goodman) notices all Gus’ low-level furniture piled up on the couch, he senses something isn’t right.
Enter Gus’ daughter Mickey (Amy Adams), an ambitious attorney in line for a partnership at an Atlanta firm when she receives Pete’s distress call. Despite her rocky relationship with her father, she still feels an overwhelming sense of responsibility for him. Though the two can hardly maintain a conversation before it falls apart, they head out to scout in North Carolina, floating in and out of grimy bars when they’re not tracking high school slugger Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill).
Like Gus’ vision, however, the movie slowly loses focus: Does it follow Mickey’s budding romance with former golden boy and current snarky Red Sox scout Johnny “The Flame” Flanagan (Justin Timberlake), or does it focus on Gus’ tortured relationship with his daughter?
Adams shares easy chemistry with both of her leading men, but the sequences with her and Timberlake, though undeniably charming, drag on a little too long, leaving viewers wondering when Eastwood will return to glower on screen. Eastwood, for his part, chews on cigars and scenery in a manner that’s neither unexpected nor original, but there’s something about the grumpy old men he plays that’s somehow endearing.
Longtime Eastwood collaborator and producer Robert Lorenz makes an attempt to throw a few dramatic curveballs, but they can be seen coming from a mile away, losing much of the intended effect. Rather than engrossing audiences, these scenes come off as cheesy and overplayed.
“Trouble With the Curve” is a softball thrown straight down the line, but its unashamed earnestness will most likely win audiences over. Sure, the movie doesn’t try all that hard to be exceptional, but in a sea of overproduced CGI blockbusters, perhaps that is why it stands out.
