Home Run Showdown (2012)

Number Rolled: 29

Movie Name/Year: Home Run Showdown (2012)

Genre: Children & Family Movie

Length: 94 minutes

Rating: NR

Director: Oz Scott

Writer: John Bella, Tim Cavanaugh

Actors: Kyle Kirk, Matthew Lillard, Wayne Duvall, Stephanie Koenig, Emma-Lee Hess, Annabeth Gish, Brandon Balog, Anthony Talley, Dean Cain, Carlos Faison, Joshua Saba, Jordan March, Jesse Harper, Mike Evans, Barry Bostwick

Lori is a young boy faced with the difficulty of living with his aunt after his father goes to jail. He comes up with a plan to get into the six-team little league so that he can go to the Home Run Derby at the end of the season. This would allow him to get on TV so that his father can see him. Unfortunately, a coach can’t be found for the sixth team and he doesn’t make it. After some brainstorming – and a little force – Joey, the has-been bartender is convinced to take on the sixth team opposite his brother Rico. Sibling rivalry takes its toll and the season becomes more about that then the game.

There are ten actors/actresses that I love enough to go out of my way to see everything they’re in; whether or not the subject of the project interests me. These ten are (in no specific order): Devon Sawa, Josh Hutcherson, Zachary Quinto, John Barrowman, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Evans, David Tennant, Rosario Dawson, Ryan Gosling and the great Matthew Lillard. I know it’s a really strange group of people to name together. If you really think about it, though, each of those actors/actresses have something about them that makes them completely unique. Could you see anyone being able to replace one of them in any of their past parts? I certainly couldn’t. They’re not interchangeable with anyone. Matthew Lillard is at the top of the unique-ness list, for me. He is the King of Exceptional Weirdness.

Now, you’ve got this beautifully different actor playing in a movie that is completely interchangeable. I speak a lot about recipe films, but this went straight past that into déjà vu. The script and the various parts that made up the whole were almost completely from “Little Giants” (1994). There were lines in this movie that were really close to exactly what was said in “Little Giants.” I try not to judge a movie on its recipe, but I feel like this wasn’t a new take on one, it was one that was stolen.

This puts me in a conundrum. I adore Matthew Lillard to no extent and I’m a huge sucker for these sports-related underdog family films. It brings back memories of being that only girl on the boys’ baseball team. Memories of being told I couldn’t stand up to the boys and should go make fuzzy magnets in the Girl scouts or go play soft-ball before I got hurt. Memories like that are usually followed up with my playing harder just to prove they were all jackasses or sneaking into the Boy scouts to learn how to tie knots (I kind of became their mascot after a while).

What it really comes down to is whether you like football (“Little Giants”) or baseball (“Home Run Showdown”) better. Personally, I have always preferred baseball. No amount of the sport, however, will turn me away from the movie I first remember seeing Devon Sawa in.

Overall Opinion – 2.5/5