Film Review: Trouble with the Curve

Director: Robert Lorenz

It didn't take long for the unexciting world of retirement to get too much for Clint Eastwood, he lasted only months before returning to the big screen to play a grumpy old man in Trouble with the Curve. This was the first movie he starred in that he did not direct since 1993 so it was a surprising step for him to come back.

Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) is a renowned Baseball scout with the Atlanta Braves who is given a big assignment before his contract is up. His daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) joins him in North Carolina on the scouting trip to check he is ok as age starts to catch up with him. Their difficult past is investigated whilst they meet Boston Red Sox scout Johnny (Justin Timberlake) who was once scouted by Gus and drafted by the Braves,

Scout Pete Klein (John Goodman), Mickey Lovel (Amy Adams) and Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood)

Asking a similar question to Moneyball about scouting and whether watching players or computer generated statistics are the future of the game, Gus is an extreme example of someone who refuses to accept the new ideas in the game and is a frustratingly annoying grumpy old man. Amy Adams is  refreshing and genuinely warm whilst Eastwood mumbles and grumbles his way through the film with Timberlake adding the sort of character he is known for playing.

Trouble with the Curve is unfortunately a totally unsurprising and well trodden plot that offers very little that hasn't been done before. The ending and plot development you can see happening well before its presented on-screen which makes this a damp squib.

1.5/4 underwhelming plot and clichéd dialogue made it a dull watch