It's the least I could do to review this film to try to honor the man himself and once again we come across a movie that involves sports but is much more than that. To be honest I thought I reviewed this film years back but I'm sure glad to review it now. It's certainly an original story about a Iowa farmer who for reasons unknown to him builds a baseball field in his crops, but a fair bit more happens and just isn't a quest to build said field including meeting a renowned and famous author, and recruiting a former baseball player turned doctor. The one thing I really got to praise about this movie is that it really doesn't drag it's feet, it one hour and forty-five minutes and doesn't waste a second. If it was a really lame movie a ¼ if not a ⅓ of the movie would be them slow burning the unknown voice and trying to deduce what it could mean but no 4 minutes in, "If you build it, he will come." and there's no drama about potential insanity and desperately trying to convince his family it's real if anything it's almost hilariously easygoing with this whole voice thing. My gratitude for that is everlasting! It's funny how lowstakes the plot is but it grabs you so effortlessly and holds your attention to end credits. Whether it's the combination of the simple yet homely feel of the directing and cinematography, the score which adds so much atmosphere and gravitas to each moment, or just the acting itself it's a damn fine movie on it's own merits. Kevin Costner as Ray does a good job playing off the absurdity of the concept without making it seem stupid, he's just as dedicated here as any other role he's done. James Earl Jones as fictional author Terence Mann is a joy to watch, I mean he always is but he shined very bright here showing wisdom, warmth, and humor that I feel is a close approximation to the legend himself and made me laugh to beat the band while also getting goosebumps to shoot down my arms. Amy Madigan as Annie while a secondary character is far from a background character injecting a fiery persona, a good bit of humor, and a lemon twist of 60s hippie-dom that's just further proof why I'm a weak willed man in the presence of ginger haired girls. Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson who doesn't really have a lot of lines conveys a great deal, encapsulated in his first scene where his face and body movement can say so much. I actually like how the movie doesn't even pretend to know why all this is happening, even the baseball players acknowledge they died but have no friggin' clue how they step out of a cornfield to play a game, it's a fairly fun and fancy free kind of movie. Some could argue it's sentimental to the point of saccharin overload but if you're invested I don't think you'll care. Even my non-sports inclinating ass gets the almost love letter monologue from James about how the sport of baseball has always been a constant and is still just as popular as ever, speaking from a household in my youth where my grandparents were Texas Rangers fans and my mom was a New York Yankees fan you can bet your bottom dollar I get the fans of this ball game. I mean, if people didn't love it we wouldn't have filmmakers with so much passion making movies like this or The Sandlot or League Of Their Own. There's something there and it's something people like. Easy recommendation from me even to non-sports fans, solid 3 stars, 7.5/10! And I know there was a certain animated special that came out while I was away so we'll check that out next time!
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