Clint Eastwood and Amy Adam´s really work well together in this move. It was genuinely touching at times.I was not sure about Amy Adams but she really shines in this film, her character is mostly wearing casual clothing, no make up and she looks great, stunning.It´s a film about baseball that is not really about baseball, other than to move the film along it seems unimportant if you like or understand the sport which is good because I don´t.John Goodman is his usual solid, quality and likeable self., Robert Patrick play´s his staple character as well as ever and even the love interest is likeable.This is a formulaic movie but one that works due to a decent cast, good sub plots about finding whats important in life, good pacing and structure and a southern soundtrack.I liked it.

Have to say that I am truly shocked that this movie was not talked about like it should have been. Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood, is a baseball scout nearing the age of retirement that is struggling with old age and staying relevant in the business and to be a good father to his daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams). This is not your standard sports movie that focuses on winning and losing, it rather is a film designed to show a theme that somethings are hard for a reason. The editing used in this film creates a story of pros and cons between technology and hard work, as well as, the hard decisions that a single father had to make. I love baseball and I was expecting a little more of it throughout this movie, but like all other Eastwood movies, I was sucked into the drama packed storyline in this movie. Between the struggles with Gus's age, technology trying to replace scouting experts, the tattered relationship between and father and daughter, and the reluctance to enter a relationship, I found myself watching closer and closer. I imagined this movie to be a lot like Money Ball but was sadly mistaken. Between the up and coming actors, Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake (Johnny Flanagan), and the well-established actors, John Goodman (Pete Klein) and Clint Eastwood, the acting was on point and very believable. Director Robert Lorenz did an amazing job of piecing together a few different plots into one cohesive film. The motif and the seldom used blurry camera view were instrumental in showing the viewer that although some things seem to be apparent, sometimes you have to dig deeper to find the answer. All the plot points that I identified throughout this movie fit into my thematic ideas that somethings are hard for reason and that you have look beyond the obvious to find the answer. It was amazing that Robert Lorenz was able to take these three very different plots and convert them into one cohesive movie was amazing. This is a must see and will keep watching till the end. If you think that it is just about sports, your wrong. This would be a great compromise for the couple that wants to watch a movie that will keep both of them entertained.

(Flash Review)Ten minutes into this movie, I was thinking oh boy, this is clunky, forced and simplistic. But as it progressed the character development began to take shape. Not stellar by any means, many characters were stereotypical and the scenes used to illustrate those traits were…functional. The story was about a veteran baseball scout, think anti-Moneyball, who is matched up against a scout who only looks at statistics and whether or not a MLB team should draft a certain player #1 in the draft. The secondary storyline was the veteran scout's relationship with his daughter whom he gave sparse time to during her childhood. The story and dialog for the most part grew on me and as the father/daughter relationship began to take center stage it helped the movie. You also end up easily rooting for certain characters if you let yourself enjoy the film without picking apart the small details that aren't critical. Although, one did bug me. Where the daughter who apparently used to play baseball, was able to catch a top prospect's best fastball and curveball with ease. With that much time away from playing, those skills wouldn't immediately be finely honed. Anyway, fun sport drama with decent emotion and some cliché moments.

By default this film earns three stars because it's about baseball and an additional one because of Clint. While the film was well-intentioned in its depiction of how "old school" scouts are slowly being replaced by young "whiz kid" number crunchers it ultimately failed with its soft, off-tangent narratives and clumsy casting. Clint was his usual self and has been pretty much been playing the same role since "Million Dollar Baby" (an excellent boxing film by the way, but I digress) while Amy Adams wasted her talents on a poorly written and poorly directed film. I don't dislike Justin Timberlake (I loved his depiction of Sean Parker in "The Social Network") but he was all wrong for this film. His overall performance was what is expected but that play-by- play call of a famous HR in the bar was really poorly executed and it made me cringe. He looked unnatural and it was evident that here was someone pretending to like baseball and not actually appreciating what a beautiful game it can be and is. If you care to watch films about baseball and learn a bit about the sport please the following, you won't be disappointed (in no particular order):Major League Moneyball Field of Dreams A League of Their Own The Sandlot Bull Durham Little Big League