Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

C. Sean Currie (hypestyle) This was a fun, enjoyable, film. It's as much about accepting the maturity of middle-age as it is about the main plot of a retired pro baseball player literally getting back into the game to hopefully achieve a benchmark statistic: 3,000 base hits. Bernie Mac is player Stan Ross, and Mac's onstage standup persona informs much of the portrayal of Ross: Gruff, self-confident, chip on his shoulder, but also with a sensitive side beneath all the "onion" layers. Ross's presence on his old team is polarizing among the players, but he quickly becomes an unofficial assistant coach, offering salient observations about team player performance and the competition alike. This film was produced by Touchstone/Buena Vista, so look for cameos by Disney-owned ESPN personalities as well as other celebrity pundits and TV hosts.Ross's behavior before his retirement pushes the edge of cartoon-like satire, but the ensuing plot progression is intriguing, including the relationship with Bassett's sports reporter "Mo". This aspect in particular bears mentioning. Here you have two middle-aged African American single adults (especially Bassett, who remains severely underused) who are allowed to be vulnerable, haughty, and nervous with one another. It's a demographic portrayal that is often bereft in mainstream American film releases.The bullpen camaraderie is engaging, particularly the mutual ongoing hazing and the tensions between Ross and Pennebaker. Intriguingly, the asides between the two men have nothing to do with race, but the price of letting ego drive your career even if you're talented-- Ross being a Baby Boomer who came of age when African American player participation and fan attention was at a zenith, and Pennebaker being a Gen X guy in the era of astoundingly huge contracts, hip-hop-infused on-and-off-field flamboyance, yet dwindling black American players and fans alike. Ross's chase of hit 3000 is a worthy main plot, but the generation gap in modern pro baseball could have provided another intriguing alternative narrative.

Ben Larson I do not know any baseball stars up close, so I have no idea if they are all assholes like Stan Ross. Bernie Mac does a great impression of the player that even the team mascot hates. Well, I wouldn't undo his zipper either.He burned all his bridges and finds he is three hits away from the magic 3000 club. Now, he has to come back, and he finds it wasn't as easy as he thought. He will eat a lot of crow before all is said and done.Angela Bassett comes into the picture, and Stan starts being nicer and helping out his young teammates.All sports movies end the same way - the big play at th last second to win the pennant. The big play came, and a big man emerged.

garyvanhorn Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) is Mr. 3000, an arrogant, cocky, selfish baseball superstar that wants nothing more than to be enshrined in the baseball hall of fame. After getting his 3000th hit, Ross unceremoniously quits the team in the middle of the season, thinking his place in history is assured. But after nine years he still has not been voted into the hall of fame, furthermore a statistical correction brings his hit total down to 2997. Ross finds this unacceptable and comes out of retirement at age 47 to reclaim his 3 lost hits.The movie has potential but spends so much time establishing Ross as an arrogant jackass that it becomes almost impossible to sympathize or root for the character in his quest for greatness. For a movie that is supposed to be a comedy, the jokes are few and far between, and they aren't especially memorable when they do show up. The whole plot of the movie is ripe for comedic payoff but the movie never really delivers. About an hour into the film it seems as if Ross is heading in a direction that the audience can get behind, hoping the protagonist will turn over a new leaf and become worthy of a spot in the hall of fame, but then he backslides and becomes a jerk again.To be effective as a comedy there needs to be humor, which is lacking in the film. To be a feel good movie, you need to be able to root for Ross, which you can't do for almost the entire film because he is portrayed as such a self-centered egomaniac. The film is trying to be both but sadly doesn't succeed in either case. Establishing Ross a a jerk early would have been effective and easily done with a minimum of time and energy, instead the movie dug a deep, dark hole for the hero that he couldn't quite climb out of.

moviedude1 ****************************** SPOILERS! ******* SPOILERS! ************************************* One thing I watch for during a movie to see how good it is, or even can be, is the chemistry created between the leads. Bernie Mac and Angela Bassett did exactly that: they created chemistry that was believable between their respective characters.Built as a comedy, this story does have a "little" substance. The people behind this story were creative, but I think they took creativity to a whole new level:What I can NOT believe is the arrogant attitude that Mac's character created (maybe it would have been more believable if he'd been from Philly, than south Chicago). Well, I can believe it, because I just saw it. But, in today's world, that kind of stuff just don't cut it. And his teammate's comments in the locker room would NEVER be tolerated! He'd be on the first bus to Cleveland, somewhere, because there's no way they'd purchase a plane ticket for him!But, then again, Paul Sorvino as a manager who just sits on the bench and says nothing...does nothing, is very unbelievable! Any manager who sat that much would be on that same bus to Cleveland!We all hear about the pro sports circles and how arrogant some of them MAY be, but this one takes the cake, and the only thing I could not believe is that the home town team would give someone like that another chance when he's already trashed everyone and everything in the media. Fans might forgive, but they don't forget, and, even if they do, there's always gonna be hosts on BEST DAMNED SPORTS SHOW PERIOD to remind everyone about it!So, overall, if you're looking for a comedy, sit back and watch, because, either way, this film is a joke. Built with laughs, or built with a laugh in mind. The weird part is that I sit here, and, reading this comment, you might think I'm trashing it, when, to be totally honest, I kind of liked it! 6 out of 10 stars!