Amazon.co.uk Review
In a bid for mainstream acceptance, director Sam Raimi distanced himself from his
Evil Dead origins with
A Simple Plan. The next step was this feel-good baseball fable. Amidst action features from
Conan The Barbarian to
Starship Troopers, composer Basil Poledouris has scored his share of whimsy (
Free Willy,
Mickey Blue Eyes,
The Blue Lagoon), but while featuring a soaring "Main Theme" his score for
For Love Of The Game cannot disguise the film for the ultra- lite that it is. In fine
Field of Dreams style there's sweet underscore in "Relationship Montage", and jaunty guitar in "Gus Hits". There's a lot of guitar throughout in fact--an instrument that along with solo trumpet seems to dog baseball movies ceaselessly. It's not that the music isn't pleasant but in seeming to insist upon a derivative mainstream approach, both film and score leave nothing but the yawn-inducing memory of sporting heroics captured in slow-motion. Composer and director are far more memorable when exercising their gift for the dramatic.
--Paul Tonks