Review of Bull Durham (1988) by Michael S — 10 Mar 2008

BULL DURHAM (1988).

Directed by Ron Shelton.

Starring Kevin Coster, Susan Sarandon, Tim RobbinsA veteran baseball player is hired in a minor team to help mature up a young pitcher with lots of potential but doesnt know how to use it. In the mean time they both have something going on with a local beauty who chooses a player every season with whom she'll have an affair that ends at the end of the year. This is a comedy though, but a very clever one. Its knows alot about the philosophy of baseball and its quite accurate, but in the other hand, the love part is less accurate but still enjoyable.Kevin Costner gives one of his best performances, he feels surprisingly comfortable with his character - probably closer to him than other characters he played. Susan Sarandon is pretty good as well, and she is credible when she talks about sports while Tim Robbins is hilarious and really does look dumb. This film is basically very well cast.Ron Shelton wrote a pretty clever film, he knows his stuff and it shows but he aint showing off, he wrote very funny dialogues and good characters. There is a surprising explosion of erotism by the end without being exploitive, cause you dont see anything, I mention it cause I didnt remember that from my childhood's viewings of this film.This is a great sport film, it doesnt try to be inspiring, it simply tries to show a reality and it does it very well, cause its quite accurate. Funny.