For Love of the Game 1999, Rated PG-13 Universal

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Starring Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, et al.

First of all, it bothers me that the title of this film isn't For the Love of the Game. Kevin Costner stars here in the film that should have been titled For the Love of the Game as Billy Chapel, an aging, ex-superstar pitcher languishing on the last place Detroit Tigers roster. Chapel has been given the start in the last Tiger game of the season -- a start that soon becomes his last ever -- and promptly pitches a perfect game. Throughout the course of his perfect game, director Sam Raimi takes us back over the years of Chapel's pitching career and interpersonal relationship with Jane (Kelly Preston). And while it initially seems as though getting to see the personal side of a future Hall-of-Famer's life would be interesting, the thrill quickly fades as the majority of action between Chapel and Jane takes place in small restaurants and hotel rooms. Slow, overly melodramatic slow, longer than some actual baseball games and slow, turning off a Cubs game for this film is hardly worth the effort.