Trouble With the Curve

Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran Atlanta Braves scout with a legendary reputation. He is also a stubborn traditionalist who refuses to acknowledge changes to the game or his own failing eyesight. When Gus is sent to North Carolina on what could be his final scouting mission, he is accompanied by Mickey (Amy Adams), his headstrong attorney daughter with whom he has a strained relationship. As they check out a top high school prospect, they are joined by Johnny (Justin Timberlake), a former ballplayer that Gus scouted who is now a scout himself for the Boston Red Sox.

Directed by Robert Lorenz, Trouble With the Curve is a failure on two fronts. As a message movie about forgiveness and adapting to change (curveball = learning curve, as if that wasn’t obvious enough), it’s predictable fluff. As a baseball movie, it’s patently ridiculous. The names of famous ballplayers are bandied about, but that’s as close to the actual game as the movie gets. The main antagonist, a rival Braves scout portrayed by Matthew Lillard, is a flimsy caricature of sabremetrics and modern scouting approaches. He exists only so Gus and his old-school methods can feel vindicated by the end. Of course, this anti-Moneyball message doesn’t jibe well with reality, and Gus’ vindication owes more to dumb luck than the superiority of his methods.

Such oblivious heavy-handedness permeates the script. Any character who is meant to be one of the good guys (Gus, Mickey, Johnny) is given a stock sympathetic backstory to cover for their otherwise jerkish behavior. Meanwhile, the supporting roles are as one-dimensional as Lillard’s. John Goodman is wasted as Gus’ longtime supporter and director of scouting as is Robert Patrick as the Braves’ noncommittal GM. Bob Gunton shows up here as a higher-up from Mickey’s law firm, a mildly antagonistic role he could have recorded in his sleep.

Despite this, Eastwood and especially Adams rise above the material. Though Eastwood has “grumpy old man” down to an art form, he is still able to ring genuine emotion out of his role. Whether he’s mourning his wife or struggling to explain his absentee parenting, you get the sense that there is a real (and really hurt) person swimming behind the tough guy façade. Adams likewise balances tough and sassy with deeply concerned and hurt, giving Mickey both an edge and a heart. Timberlake, on the other hand, is clearly not in the same league. He may not be dreadful here, but it’s still hard to take him seriously.

With a little more verisimilitude and imagination, Trouble With the Curve could have overcome its predictable premise. Instead, it’s an utterly forgettable clunker that strikes out despite its talented cast.

6/10