Review of Bull Durham (1988) by Thomas B — 09 Nov 2007

It has baseball, comedy and romance. In other words, it has it all -- so everyone should enjoy watching this classic Costner-Sarandon-Robbins flick. Sarandon's character, Annie Savoy, is a kick. She sees baseball as a religion -- literally.

And it's that false idol that presents some of the best lines: "Despite my rejection of most Judeo-Christian ethics, I am, within the framework of the baseball season, monogamous"; "These are the ground rules.

I hook up with one guy a season. Usually takes me a couple weeks to pick the guy - kinda my own spring training. And, well, you two are the most promising prospects of the season so far, so I just thought we should kinda get to know each other"; "For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball.

When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me." I could go on and on. Of course, that shows my favoritism. And Annie is one of my favorite female characters in movies.

She is, perhaps, too forward, but she knows what she wants, and her boldness is sexy, much like the dialogue throughout the entire film. Costner has one of the best monologues in cinematic history, but I won't spoil it.

The only criticsm I have is toward the end. Baseball takes the backdrop and steamy sex scenes kill the momentum. I would have cut much of that footage. Well, unless they moved those scenes to the baseball field.