Rating: 
Summary: Where's the baseball movie?
Review: I was ready to watch a baseball movie and a love story broke out! Kevin, puhleeze, one genre at a time. Costner at his self serving best in both sport and love. Seems this guy can't figure out a theme for this film. If you want lots of angst and little curve ball, this film is for you. If not, rent "The Natural" still the best fictional baseball movie ever made.
Rating:
Summary: Love of the game, or the girl?
Review: FOR LOVE OF THE GAME takes you inside the mind of a star baseball pitcher as he plays in what could be the last game of his career. When I saw the picture at the movies it made me think of the book HEAT, the autobiography of pro pitcher Dwight Gooden. FOR LOVE OF THE GAME and HEAT revolve around thoughts of family and career as the man on the mound, considered washed up by some, finds himself in what could be a no-hit game.Gooden had his dying father on his mind as he was getting the ball past the bats on that day in 1996. FOR LOVE OF THE GAME's Billy Chapel, played well by Kevin Costner, had thoughts of his late parents. But unfortunately, the film puts too much emphasis on Chapel's girlfriend, who may be ending their relationship. Aren't girlfriend stories for teenage boys, not 30-something adult men? Each time FOR LOVE OF THE GAME's baseball sequences start to engross you, it cuts to flashbacks about the woman the pitcher has loved so much through the years that, uh, he never married her? See FOR LOVE OF THE GAME on free or cable TV, where Costner, supporting actor John C. Reilly and the exciting baseball sequences (the director is Sam Raimi of EVIL DEAD fame) make it worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: A GAMELY CRAFTED, NO-FRILLS HIT!
Review: "They don't make 'em like they used to!" As regards "For Love of the Game", the above comment applies to both movies and baseball players! Old-fashioned, straight-ahead storytelling, complimented by solid performances, extremely convincing on-the-field action, excellent photography and more than competent direction by Sam Raimi, make for a resoundingly entertaining movie...even if you're not much of a baseball fan. Perhaps the best thing going for the film is its truly innovative integration and balance of rapid-fire on-going game vs. relationship development flashback elements, allowing the viewer to "get inside the athlete's head" in a way no other movie in recent memory does. "For Love" thusly manages to put a signature spin on the subjective experience of a great athlete's swan song by sharing & highlighting the stark contrast between the external precision & perfection of the real-world game in progress, and the turbulent, highly personal, inner-world of the passions that drive him. Kevin Costner, certainly NOT the greatest actor in the world, literally shines in the mother of all tailor made roles. Kelly Preston shows us a highly focused intensity, in just what may be her best on screen appearance to date! John C. Reilly, although cast as the solid-as-a-rock-always-there-when-you-need-him-on-the-sidelines Catcher, plays to the hilt a supporting role, in every sense of the word. There are moments in "For Love", however, that seem a touch too maudlin, trying just a little too hard to jerk that extra tear. A few of these melancoly scenes are drawn out to the point of making the viewer self-conscious and put upon. These occasional excesses are easily overlooked, however, in light of the films many strengths and its overal highly engrossing nature. TECHNICAL NOTE: Amazon rated picture quality of the Widescreen DVD version a lackluster 3.5...which leads me to imagine that either they reviewed a defective copy, or that there were problems with early prints that were subsequently corrected, because the picture quality I observed was among the best of my entire DVD collection !
Rating: 
Summary: I loved this movie
Review: this movie has to be one of the best baseball and love movies I have ever seen. It is perfect for a date because the guy can get into the baseball part and aa little bit of the love story and the girl can get into the love story and a little bit of the baseball story without feeling let down
Rating: 
Summary: Good, not great. This is not "Field of Dreams"
Review: Over the past weekend, my wife and I actually got the opportunity to rent a couple of movies, sit down, and watch them! (In a large family, such is usually NOT the case!) Three stars for "For the Love of the Game". We loved the baseball (indeed, I suspect that Kevin Costner does as well) and felt that the way flashback were handled from within the context of the game itself was quite effective. However, we were both disappointed at the development of the relationship. My wife was completely underwhelmed by Kelly Preston's acting ability (or lack thereof), and I felt that Jane, the character she portrayed was poorly developed -- and frankly, the bits that WERE developed, I didn't like. I found myself with no sympathy for her whatsoever. Other pluses to the movie would include the authentic-sounding announcing by Vin Scully, and the remarkable visual and sound editing when Costner is on the mound. As a lover of baseball, I enjoyed the movie -- but as far as baseball movies go, it ain't great.
Rating:
Summary: Costner should stick to baseball and Westerns
Review: If Costner stuck to baseball movies and westerns he would be fine. This was a really good movie. It is actually a cross between a chick flick and a sports movie. The baseball scenes are expertly done and the other part of the storyline is expertly woven into the movie. I really enjoyed this movie and think lots of other people will too. Even if you've read the book, you should still see this movie. Just my opnion though, I could be wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Not a baseball fan
Review: If you're expecting to see another heart stirring Field of Dreams or hilarious Bull Durham performance out of Kevin Costner, then don't watch this film. The movie is less a baseball movie than a relationship movie, and not a very interesting one at that. Although the movie has a few interesting moments, such as a compelling scene where Costner "gets in the zone" to pitch and turns off the crowd noise around him, most of the movie was pure oversentimental drivel. As I recall, I fast forwarded through about the last 30 minutes of the DVD, hoping, praying that the film would somehow redeem itself with something interesting to watch. Save yourself the time on this stinker: it didn't improve...
Rating:
Summary: Focus, Focus, Lose out on Life
Review: For Love of the Game is one of my favorite movies of all time. Usually sports themes aren't among my favorite, but this film is about so much more than sports... it's about life. It's about figuring out what life is all about before it's too late. What's important? Why waste your best years on a game, where sports agents will throw you away before your prime? It's about love, and throwing that away for "The Love of the Game." Buy it, enjoy it and learn about focus, love and what's really important in life.
Rating:
Summary: "Clear the mechanism."
Review: My son, a former college pitcher, absolutely adored this film--not because of the overall story, but because of the head games pitchers play on the mound. And to its credit, FOR LOVE OF THE GAME vividly depicts a day out on the hill for a major league pitcher at the twilight of his career, Detroit Tiger ace Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner). My son instantly identified with Chapel's talking to himself between pitches, trying to get inside the head of the batter (What's he expecting? Fastball or breaking ball?), hoping that his next pitch will throw the batter off balance. And finally, Chapel's ability to completely shut out all noise and distractions ("Clear the mechanism," he says to himself.) was very effective. And those are the highlights of the movie. Unfortunately, FOR LOVE OF THE GAME is a compilation of flashbacks centering around a contrived love story that has been rehashed and recycled thousands of times. Director Sam Raimi gives us a story about the on-again/off-again relationship between Chapel and Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston), a magazine exec. Chapel is unwilling to make a commitment, while Jane's pessimistic insecurity about the relationship becomes downright annoying. Costner is so wooden in these scenes he appears to be going through the motions, while Preston whines and pines like a high school sophomore. The final scene between the two of them, in the airport, is uncomfortable to watch. John C. Reilly turns in an admirable performance as grisly veteran catcher Gus Sinski, and the soothing voice of Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully lends wonderful credibility to the drama as Chapel makes a bid to pitch a perfect game. I only wish FOR LOVE OF THE GAME had confined itself to the action on the mound; there wasn't much action going on anywhere else.
--D. Mikels
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