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MAJOR LEAGUE<br />
starring Tom Berengcr, Charlie Sheen, Corhin Bemsen, James<br />
Gammon and Boh Decker<br />
Produced by Chris Chesser and Irby Smith Written and<br />
directed by David S Ward<br />
A Paramount Pictures release Comedy, rated R Running turn:<br />
107 min Screening date: 4/4/89<br />
That committee in Hollyuood which decides brilliant<br />
things like "Nobody wants to see baseball movies" once<br />
again finds itself red-faced. The first 10 days earned a<br />
whopping $18.5 million.<br />
"Major League," the only entry in the current baseball<br />
movie glut which really aspires to only be a baseball movie, is<br />
a fantasy about the Cleveland Indians, the most dismal team<br />
in major league history (sorry about that, Cleveland fans). As<br />
scripted by director David S. Ward, the fortunes of the team<br />
are only going to get worse, because the team's owner has died<br />
and his conniving widow (Margaret Whitton) has decided that<br />
if she's going to be saddled with the hopeless Tribe, she'd<br />
rather have them playing in the sunny climes of Miami. She<br />
comes up with the inspired idea of filling the team's roster<br />
with a group of over-the-hill veterans and undisciplined rookies,<br />
all in attempt to create a team so bad that the good folk of<br />
Cleveland will all but escort their beloved Indians to the town<br />
line.<br />
A ragtag group of players is quickly assembled, including<br />
Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger), a former star with bad knees,<br />
and Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), a jailbird pitcher with a<br />
comic control problem. A colorful squadron of losers, these<br />
misfits play with an expected lack of success, until they get<br />
wind of their new owner's scheme. Determined to not be used<br />
by her — and knowing that their careers will be over if she<br />
gets her wish — the team pulls together and stages an improbable<br />
rally which ultimately wins them the Eastern Division<br />
pennant.<br />
Major League's" whole story is built on the silly premise<br />
that if a team really wants to win, it can (does this mean that<br />
the real-life Indians just don't want to win enough?). So long<br />
as audiences can accept this unsophisticated theory, they will<br />
find a bawdy story that is intermittently funny but populated<br />
by an uneven group of colorful characters. Berenger and<br />
Sheen are fine as the rough-edged leaders of the revitalized<br />
team, but Corbin Bemsen, as a prissy, over-paid veteran, gives<br />
a predictable and two-dimensional reading of this pampered<br />
superstar. James Gammon and Bob Uecker are terrific as,<br />
respectively, the minor league manager who reluctantly takes<br />
control of the team and the beleaguered sportscaster who is<br />
the last to believe the Indians' resurgence, but the scheming<br />
team owner is nothing but a comic movie tyrant, painted in<br />
loud, grating strokes by Ward.<br />
Maybe it's just that the sophistication of "Bull Durham" and<br />
"Field of Dreams" has prompted us to expect more from baseball-themed<br />
movies, but the good-natured nonsense of "Major<br />
League" ends up seeming childish (the film's treatment of<br />
women shows a distinct lack of maturity). Those who know<br />
the game will no doubt find a lot of humor in these shenanigans,<br />
but beyond that core group it's questionable how much<br />
business this "Bad News Bears" for grownups will do.<br />
Rated R for language and sexual situations. Tom Matthews<br />
—<br />
SAY ANYTHING<br />
Starring John Cusack, lone Skye and John Mahoney<br />
Produced by Polly Piatt Written and directed by Cameron<br />
Crowe<br />
A 20th Century Fox release^ Romantic comedy, rated PG-13<br />
Screening date: 4/10/89.<br />
"Say Anything" is a charming, if somewhat insubstantial<br />
romantic comedy which represents Hollywood in an uncommonly<br />
good-natured mood. Its messages may be a bit vague,<br />
and the going might get a bit melodramatic in the third act, but<br />
writing this sharp and acting this affecting go a long way to<br />
overshadow whatever shortcomings this delightful movie<br />
inight have.<br />
The story is a very simple one: Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack),<br />
a stridently optimistic teenager who has just graduated from<br />
high school, develops a killer crush on Diane Court (lone<br />
Skye), a beautiful and brilliant classmate who has one summer<br />
to kill before she moves to England on a fellowship. The<br />
likes of Diane rarely gives the time of day to the likes of Lloyd,<br />
whose only career plan is a possible future in kick-boxing<br />
("The sport of the future"), but Lloyd pursues her with<br />
unwavering determination.<br />
Its story is low concept and its stars are not household<br />
names, but audiences were clever enough to find this<br />
smart romantic comedy. Its first weekend grossed a<br />
promising $4. 1 million.<br />
Diane, smart enough to recognize pure charm when she<br />
sees it, slowly falls for Lloyd, but their mismatched natures<br />
soon begin to clash. He is fueled purely by impulse and guided<br />
by whatever feels right at the time, but she, far too intelligent<br />
for her own good, over-analyzes everything. She spends all her<br />
time dissecting her feelings for Lloyd and for her father (John<br />
Mahoney), with whom she shares an unusually open and adult<br />
relationship, and she comes to the conclusion that it would be<br />
more logical for them to part company. When her father is<br />
accused and ultimately jailed for fraud, she becomes convinced<br />
that her life has simply become too complicated, and<br />
she shuts Lloyd out of her life for good. The well-intentioned<br />
and thoroughly decent young man must then find a way to<br />
win her back.<br />
Although the script is perceptive and funny, and the performances<br />
are smart throughout, the highlight of "Say Anything"<br />
is unquestionably John Cusack, one of the most unique<br />
and natural young perfomiers in the business. All actors make<br />
decisions when they are forming the personas for which they<br />
will become known, and in all of Cusack's best work ("The<br />
Sure Thing," "Eight Men Out"), his decision has been to portray<br />
his characters as being unfailingly, almost intensely normal<br />
and straightforward (his screenwriters, of course, had<br />
something to do with this). In "Say Anything," Lloyd stands<br />
out as an oddball simply because he sayfe what he thinks, and<br />
because he expects his thoughtfulness to be accepted in kind.<br />
When it's not — when Diane allows herself to be ruled by her<br />
head instead of her heart — the bemusement and torment he<br />
feels is genuinely touching. It's a sensational performance,<br />
and it makes us long to see what Cusack will appear in next.<br />
R-31 BOXOKFICE
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