Review of Field of Dreams (1989) by Sajin P — 17 Jan 2012

Kevin Costner is hearing voices. But he's not going schizo, no, not in this schmaltz-fest that just barely avoids full-on goo-mode. Costner is like a modern version of one of Frank Capra's beloved Everyman heroes, like Mr. Deeds of George Bailey. Field of Dreams is adapted from a novel by W.P. Kinsella called Shoeless Joe. Costner plays a version the author Kinsella, Ray, who lives with his loving wife and daughter (Amy Madigan and Abby Hoffman). Then, as aforementioned, Ray begins hearing a voice in his cornfields that tell him 'if you build it they will come', it being a baseball stadium. But Ray's the only one hearing it.

You may not be able to really handle Field of Dreams, I know I can barely take it, but the actors to their credit play this one earnestly. The best parts are when the players show up, one being Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta).They are the eight Black Sox players exiled after accepting a bribe to throw the 1919 World Series. Then Ray hears another ghostly whisper, 'Ease his pain'. That would be the pain of a local old man (the great Burt Lancaster) who did one inning with the New York Giants, but it could also be Ray's own father. The movie's a schmaltzy mess, a far cry from Costner's other great baseball flick Bull Durham, but it's got some lasting magic.