For Love of the Game

REVIEW
Kevin Costner must have been a baseball player in his previous life. For when he's on-screen and anywhere near a baseball diamond, he comes alive and performs with an intensity he rarely duplicates in his other films. In Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, he's at his best. He's right at home, as well, in this romantic drama with a baseball backdrop. And the baseball scenes here are terrific. Unfortunately, they only make up about a third of the film, for the other two-thirds are occupied by a run-of-the-mill, predictable romance whose story and dialogue are right out of Screenplay 101. Costner is Billy Chapel, a 40-year-old star veteran pitching what could be his last game. As he faces the Yankess and finds himself in a perfect game, Billy flashes back to the significant moments in his life -- mainly his on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend Jane (Preston). Raimi's camera captures the excitement and the authenticity of a major league game in remarkable fashion, but neither he nor Costner are able to flesh out the film's soggy romantic angle. Evidently Bull Durham was an exception to the rule: baseball and romance don't mix.