Film Review: ‘Million Dollar Arm’ Misses the Strike Zone

Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 16, 2014 - 6:20am

CHICAGO – “Million Dollar Arm” harkens back to a period of shameless family friendly schmaltz that used to play to families in theaters and then run in perpetuity on “The Wonderful World Of Disney” on television. But this treacly baseball drama throws nothing but balls.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

Although slightly more believable than a story about a football kicking mule who wins the big game, its ambitions are the same. It yanks at the heartstrings by whatever means necessary while largely ignoring the sport the redemption tale is ostensibly about.

Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) stars as a failing sports agent just barely getting by. When his big NFL recruit leaves him- he’s left in dire financial straights. But one night while watching singing phenom Susan Boyle he gets that far away look that signals inspiration in movies like this. He heads to India to organize a reality competition show to turn a cricket player into a major league pitcher.

“Million Dollar Arm” opens everywhere on May 16th. Featuring Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi, Lake Bell, Alan Arkin, Bill Paxton, Suraj Sharma and Madhu Mittal. Screenplay by Thomas McCarthy. Directed by Craig Gillespie. Rated “PG”