Monday, May 9, 2022

Mother's Day Recommendation: A League of their Own

 












                                            I know that we're passed Mother's Day but honestly the movie I picked for my recommendation for Mother's Day was in all fairness a test of my movie watching experience. For many reasons it's been a long time since I've watched this movie and there were a lot of jokes I remember and now watching it I was like "eh not as funny as I remembered". But then the film itself becomes more interesting when we reach to second and third act and I soon realize that, despite its unnatural flaws the film alone is still a good movie to watch. A League of their Own is one of my mom’s favorite baseball films to watch, and I always remember watching this film as a kid just like Field of Dreams, but unlike Field of Dreams this film has a lot of adult humor that was in a sense funny but then didn't seem all that funny when you haven't seen it a long time. Directed by Penny Marshall who directed such films like Big and The Preachers Wife and is also related to famous (kind of) director Garry Marshall. Also starring Tom Hanks and Geena Davis along with Madonna back when she was much attractive and Rosie O'Donnell who use to be funny? Anyway, lets skip the talking and get right into A League of their Own.
                                           As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall). Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) spar with each other, scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz) and a grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) on their way to fame. 
                                           A side from the slow first act that it has, the movie itself is still worth seeing especially having kids now to watch this movie as well, because as we all know when it comes to schools, they never teach you anything with history like this. And if I can add any bright side to what makes this film still great, is that it's a lost part of American history that everyone needs to see for the wider audience because this is the only film out there that focuses so much on the Girls Baseball league that helped during the WW II, when some of the famous ballplayers like Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Now, the last time I watched this I believe I was watching with other people at a lecture discussion class some time maybe 2010, so watching the movie now I slowly began to realize how slow of the first act was and how some of the jokes weren't great as I once remembered them growing up furthermore it also made me realize how awful Jon Lovitz was when it came to comedic actors, granted this guy was a SNL alum but as we all should know SNL actors don't transition well when it comes to movies, example Adam Sandler. And I'm not going to lie getting through Lovitz part was rough to watch, probably another thing to gripe about was Garry Marshall as the so-called founder of the Girls Baseball league who I found is acting bad enough to try and get through for which explains why all of his films were so bad, though he didn't act in his films just made them unwatchable. Some of the comedic jokes I do remember in the movie didn't stand the test of time sure there were some ha-ha moments that were funny but re-watching some of the jokes now just made my water taste funny for some odd reason. Now that being said if you push through the boring part of the first act, the second and third act gets more interesting especially the sister relationship between Geena Davis and Lori Petty and the two of them do such a great job playing a sibling rivalry on the field of Baseball but at the end still love each other, and the same goes with Tom Hanks who at first is overrated in his comedic work in the film but when he gets to his back story and his respect for his players he actually does a fantastic job in his role even when he's trying to persuade Geena Davis character to stay and play baseball. I now, truly understand my mom's love for this movie it’s really at its peak a heartwarming movie from start to finish and does have some adult humor to go along with. So, despite its flaws I still recommend watching A League of their Own and to all youngsters now for some good education on sports history. And in closing I wish everyone a Happy belated Mother’s Day, and to all mothers out there.
           

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