Review of Bull Durham (1988) by Thomas W — 31 Aug 2008

Maybe it was all the "best sports movie" / "best baseball movie ever" stuff that I've heard over the years about Bull Durham, but I was rather underwhelmed. It's not that it's a bad movie by any means; it's not. It's just not the great movie it's made out to be.

In a movie concerned as much with sex as it is with baseball, it's a bad sign that the relationship with the most chemistry and the most fire is the one between Tim Robins and Kevin Costner. Their interactions on the team bus, in the locker rooms, and on the field have more spark and energy than either's relationship with Sarandon.

We are given glimpses of the personalities of the rest of the team, but none of it is really paid off. There is quite a bit of humor in the movie, but I think there was a tremendous amount left on the cutting-room floor. I have a suspicion that many a character actor who played a teammate was shocked to see his role reduced to a glorified extra when the movie premiered. It seems clear that they could never quite decide whether they wanted to make a romance with some baseball or a baseball movie with some romance, so they just split the difference. It needed a decision to go one way or the other, because by not committing fully in one direction, the story never entirely develops, and any resolution feels empty and unearned.

While they could not be more different characters, Susan Sarandon's Annie Savoy reminds me of Denzel Washington's Frank Lucas in American Gangster. Both are overwritten, trying too hard to create a character, at the expense of creating a believable person. You can feel Sarandon trying too hard to be a paradox, to be overly quirky, and that ultimately becomes monotonous. I like Sarandon, and I think she did what she could with the role, but it's written too one-note.

There's a lot to like in this movie, but there's a lot to overlook if you want to really like it.