TROUBLE WITH THE SCRIPT

"Get the hell out of here before I have a heart attack while I'm killing you."

Judy and I saw TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE yesterday afternoon along with our friends Kathy and Chad. I yield to no one in my respect and admiration for the great Clint Eastwood, my all-time favorite film actor. But Clint's done better work than this.

It's a not a bad little film at all. It's enjoyable and entertaining in a modest way. It was clearly not an expensive film to make and I'm sure that given Eastwood's popularity, it will turn a neat profit.

The trouble is, if you've seen the trailers, you've seen all of the best parts and lines from the film. That's a problem with film trailers of the last twenty or so years. They give far too much away and spoil all of the good moments leaving viewers with few surprises.

Eastwood is good as a gruff, aging major league baseball scout who is slowly losing his eyesight, a condition that greatly jeopardizes his professional life. Amy Adams is his go-getter lawyer daughter who has been estranged from her father for a number of years. They re-unite and clash before coming together, with life lessons learned, in the final reel.

It's a cookie-cutter script, a paint-by-the-numbers screenplay that's painfully predictable. If you don't know where this film's going after the first five minutes, you probably haven't seen too many movies. It's not just that we can see the story beats and plot points coming. It's that we can see them actually slow down and signal for a turn. 

But in the final analysis, who cares if the script isn't on par with GRAN TORINO, MILLION DOLLAR BABY or UNFORGIVEN? It's Clint Eastwood, damn it. Who knows how many more times we'll get to see him on the big screen? I'm going to savor every minute that he gives us before he quits the movie game for good. I've come this far with him and I'll keep on going as long as he does.