Hardball

Surprisingly, this redemption-by-baseball story is not some warm-fuzzy Bad News Bears clone transplanted to the projects. Yes, it is about a drunk, gambling-addicted ticket scalper (Keanu Reeves) who is forced to coach a ghetto little league team to pay off angry bookies. And, yes, he does learn What's Really Important In Life from endearingly foul-mouthed street kids who live cautionary-tale type lives of inner city strife. But as fast as Hardball sets up such eye-rolling clichés, director Brian Robbins knocks them down, and Reeves has become a good enough actor to both nail his character's pessimistic indifference and convincingly pull off being fundamentally changed by his experience with these kids, none of whom are the stock characters they at first seem. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)