More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

Anyway, when I first saw the trailer for Hardball, I immediately thought "Bad New Bears for a new generation." Boy, was I wrong. Inspired by a true story, and based upon the book by Daniel Coyle, Hardball is a much more somber and dark film than any other baseball movie I've ever seen. Set in the mean streets of Chicago, Keanu Reeves plays Conor O'Neill, a down on his luck scalper who is spinning his wheels as he tries to sail through life. Saddled with thousands of dollars of debt to local bookies, O'Neill has become more than desperate, so he turns to his friend Jimmy Fleming (Mike McGlone) for a $12,000 loan. While Jimmy isn't willing to give up that kind of bread, he is willing to hire him to coach a little league baseball team for $500 a week.

Having no choice, O'Neill takes the job, and soon meets the most ragtag group of ballplayers in the Chicago projects. O'Neill hates the job, but begrudgingly takes on the task of making the Kekambas a legitimate baseball team. As with all baseball films, we have the standard cliches and montages, such as bringing the team together, helping the weaker players along, etc., but there is a deeper level to this picture than it might first appear. First, there's O'Neill's struggle to get his life together, which by itself might have made an interesting film. But even more intriguing is how baseball is the only escape for these kids from the project. Sure, we've all heard the real-life stories of how kids escape their troubled home lives to become megastars, but rarely do you see a fictional film juxtapose this properly and with such context.

Hardball is a surprisingly entertaining film that rises above the genre. Director Brian Robbins and writer John Gatins could have chosen the easy way out, but they wisely make baseball only a subplot, and not the full driving force of the movie. The underused Diane Lane is fine as Wilkes, the kids school teacher and a love interest for Reeves, while John Hakes is perfect as O'Neill annoying partner in crime. As for Reeves, his acting is still questionable, but he does seem to have an eye for good scripts and is charming here. The only weak point may be how forgettable the kids portraying the Kekambas are. But no matter, Hardball is an underrated gem.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Hardball is presented in its original 1.85 aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement, and is quite impressive. There's a wide color palette if subdued, and hues are decently saturated with accurate fleshtones. There is a distinct edginess to the overall look of this film, and suffers from that sappy crystal clear look. About half of this film takes place in grungy apartments, and the ominous streets of the projects. There is a minor amount of edge enhancement, but the print used for this transfer is flawless with nary a blemish to distract. The blacks and contrast are dead on, while there are absolutely no signs of compression artifacts. Paramount has produced a fine transfer for this film.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

Hardball isn't a straight comedy, so it never suffers from comedy sountrack-itis. Presented in full Dolby Digital 5.1, the soundtrack is highly effective while not being in your face. This mix was perfectly balanced, never pulling me out of the film's reality. There are some impressive nuances to this mix, such as the reverberations on the city streets at night. In chapter 7, when O'Neill goes through one of the apartment complexes with the kids, all of the channels are active while they walk down the corridors. There are many solid left to right pans, as well as an effective use of splits surrounds. The use of low-end information is somewhat limited, but to be honest, outside of the film hip-hop soundtrack, nothing really called for the extra punch of a strong LFE track. While briefly comparing the 5.1 mix to surround sound mix, the differences were immediately apparent. The 5.1 mix was much more full and lively, while the surround sound mix lost the spatiality and low- end frequency response.

A French 2.0 surround track is also included along with English Close Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Perhaps the best supplement on this disc is the screen-specific audio commentary by director Brian Robbins and writer John Gatins. Obviously recorded in real-time, this commentary track is mostly on the casting of the film, Keanu Reeves' eating habits, and all of the inside jokes about who was named what by Gatins. Their stories about shooting in the projects are fairly interesting, as are their stories about dealing with the child actors, but I really found this track dry overall. Maybe the supplement would have been better served if Robbins and Gatins' insights were videotaped and put in to a half-hour documentary instead?

The rest of the extras are a little less exciting. First up is the 12-minute featurette The Making of Hardball. This is nothing more than the EPK that was sent out to promote the film at the time of its release, and includes interviews with all of the cast as well as Brian Robbins, John Gatins and other select crew members. (Even the baseball consultant receives a bit of screen time.) I suppose the funniest part of this featurette is how infatuated the kids were with Reeves, and there's a reason he jumped all over the sequels to The Matrix...

Next up are three Deleted Scenes, which prove why films need judicious editing. The first scene is called "Duffy's Tavern," where O'Neill is attempting to drown his sorrows away, and Jimmy comes in to prove how shallow he is. "The Funeral Parlor" scene is next and trust me, it was better left on the cutting room floor. The final deleted scene, "Talking to the Kids" may have served a purpose in terms of thematics, but it would have just slowed down the film. All are rather redundant.

The remaining extras are promotional material. First we have the Interstitials which were used late in the summer during baseball season. These amount to nothing more than specific television commercials focusing on Andre and Kofi's aspirations to reach the big leagues. These three spot are interesting, but not much more inspiring than the original Theatrical Trailer, presented in surround sound with anamorphic enhancement. The final extra is the "Hardball" music video, presented in full frame and 2.0 surround.

DVD- ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

As with just about all Paramount titles, no ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts