Movie Review #3: A League of Their Own

A League of Their Own (1992)
Director: Penny Marshall
Writer(s): Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
Starring: Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks

I cannot stress this enough when it comes to sports films: the outcome does not matter. There are two results of a sports game: victory or defeat. Ending a sports film with either is cliché. What matters in a sports film is the odyssey; our satisfaction with an ending is wholly dependent on how much we care about the journey. With this in mind, A League of Their Own is a satisfying, if not spectacular, sports film. Is this a truly excellent sports film, like Rocky or Remember the Titans? No. Is it a terrible, patronizing mess like Facing the Giants? No. It finds a happy medium, avoiding the worst of the genre's pitfalls while somewhat succumbing to formula. All the same, I say it's worth a watch.

Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and her sister, Kit (Lori Petty), are two Oregon women who are avid fans and players of baseball. When most American men, including almost the entire MLB, enter combat in WWII, the owner of the Cubs decides to found a women's league in order to make money. Dottie, with a husband overseas, is hesitant to join this new league, though Kit is ecstatic. Dottie's incredible playing abilities net her access to training, while Kit just barely manages to enter training on her sister's coattails. Both make the league, encountering a star-studded cast of various quirky players and executives, including their manager, Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks). As the league struggles to gain national momentum, the forces of the war and jealousy begin to tear at the relationship between the two sisters, leading to a final game that will decide the fate of their sisterly love and the league at large.

Don't let the headlining pictures of Tom Hanks and Madonna fool you: this movie is about Geena Davis and Lori Petty. The movie, much like Titanic several years after, begins and ends with a quasi-inspirational flashback; both flashbacks end with a discussion of sisterhood's importance. Thankfully, this story is the greatest strength of the movie. Both Geena Davis and Lori Petty give fine performances; I only saw the characters on the screen, not the actors. Lori Petty in particular gives her career best, portraying a three-dimensional younger sibling who can equally feel excitement, rejection, disappointment, anger, and compassion. Davis, on the other hand, is the solid rock on which the film is based. She is our main character, with all the central conflicts and relationships in the movie tying into her story. As such, she plays a strong role model, willing to do what it takes to get fans in the seat but not willing to take chauvinist bull. She has her vulnerabilities, too, making her somewhat more believable.

The rest of the cast is somewhat hit-and-miss. Tom Hanks, as usual, turns in a fine performance. Everyone and his/her mother will remember the "there's no crying in baseball scene" for years to come. Megan Cavanagh does a fine turn as second baseman and slugger Marla Hooch. Madonna, a musician and actress whom I actively loathe, is actually not bad as center fielder Mae Mordabito, although her character is somewhat pointless. Less than appealing are Rosie O'Donnell, playing herself (really third baseman Doris Murphy) and Jon Lovitz as talent scout Ernie Capadino, both needlessly sleazy and utterly two-dimensional. Of all these characters, Hanks as manager Jimmy Dugan is the only one really given anything to do. It appears as if Marla is going to have an interesting arc, but she gets married off in the middle of the movie. Madonna and O'Donnell spend most of their time making jokes rather than developing. The rest of the girls are little more than bit parts.

The film's plot points fare similarly. Both the main storyline and the Jimmy Dugan subplot, in which the alcoholic Dugan must overcome his prejudices and learn to manage a team, hit all the right marks. Less than appealing is Dottie's dealing with her husband's presence overseas. At first, this story seems quite functional. Geena Davis and Tom Hanks share some surprisingly touching and subtle scenes discussing this matter. But one scene manages to botch all the build-up with a sledgehammer. Dugan receives a telegram from the War Department right before a game: the audience naturally assumes that Dottie's husband has died. This is an excellent opportunity for character development and emotional depth. Just as Dugan is about to hand off the letter to Dottie, he gives it to the player next to her, a player whom we care nothing about.

Such false twists are what I call "teases."

A good plot twist is one that surprises the audience but offers a new perspective on the scenes prior to the twist. A good plot twist is deducible. A bad plot twist is one that comes out of nowhere, a twist that, in retrospect, does absolutely nothing to further the movie and serves only to confuse. A tease is even worse. This is when a twist emerges in a movie usually for the purpose of a joke or a false start, ultimately resulting in no change to the status quo. Teases are that much worse than bad plot twists in that they have no purpose other than wasting the audience's time. If one can remove the scene without any change to the story, then the twist you've just seen is a tease. These are the banes of my film-watching existence. I have one life to live, and I don't want it wasted on false hopes.

Despite this glaring flaw in the film's pacing, the rest of the movie holds up pretty well. It follows the standard sports film formula, what with the training montages and dramatic defeat before the third act. At the same time, there are some nice other elements. I found the balance these women had to find between sexing themselves up for a male audience and playing professional baseball quite interesting: I'm not so sure Betty Friedan would have been happy with the choices made, but I think the film recognizes what compromises had to be made simply because of the time. It was either somewhat degrading clothing or no female presence in athletics altogether. It's a tough choice, no doubt, but a choice that was actually made. There's nothing else in this movie that's intellectually challenging or exceptionally strong, but it manages to satisfy. Like in any good sports film, one leaves the viewing with that "fuzzy" feeling.

Recommendation: While not a "must watch," I'd say that A League of Their Own is a great family film. This is a movie anyone can enjoy, from kids 6+ to adults. If it's on Showtime or Starz on a Friday night, I'd say it's worth one's time.

I give A League of Their Own 6.9 stars out of 10.