Review of Bull Durham (1988) by Forrest P — 24 Jun 2010

I have never been a fan of baseball, but Bull Durham is a film in which you don't have to be a fan of the sport in order to love the picture.

Bull Durham stars Tim Robbins as a pitcher who throws faster than anyone in the minors, but can't aim worth a lick. In these types of films, there's always the expert who's brought in to help the younger player out, and in Bull Durham, he's played by none other than Kevin Costner. Of course, Bull Durham has a love story too. Susan Sarandon's very religion is baseball. She worships baseball and baseball players, an aspect of the movie I found hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. There's a love triangle among her, Costner, and Robbins.

All the performers in Bull Durham are really energetic and put a lot into their characters, which I appreciated. I always appreciate it when a lot of time and attention is given to the characters in the film, and Bull Durham was as much about the characters as it was about baseball. In fact, I would say this is a story about three different people's different love for the sport of baseball. There's Annie (Sarandon) who worships it, Nuke (Robbins) who treats it arrogantly, and Crash (Costner) who respects it. They all love it, but love it different ways.

But something that really drew me in to the picture was the film's absence of formula. There's no big game that the team is training for, no sports montage, and no big underdog story. It's just about the way these characters are trying to love the sport of baseball. The only weakness here is that there are a few characters who are drastically underplayed. For instance there's a little subplot about a very Christian ballplayer who is marrying a slut. I would have liked to know a little more about that story, but no luck...

Still, Bull Durham is the best baseball picture I've seen and probably my biggest recommendation to anyone who loves the game.

8/10.