The Final Season

Take as many sports clichés as you can imagine, double them, and you'll have something approaching this well-meaning but heavy-handed saga of high-school baseball. Based on a true story, The Final Season focuses on the 1991 Tigers from the tiny burg of Norway, IA, who've won 19 state championships against far larger schools under their demanding coach (Powers Boothe) but are now about to be phased out of existence thanks to a district merger. The school board president hopes to overcome local resistance by insuring that the Tigers do poorly in their last season, replacing the coach with a neophyte (Sean Astin). But—what a surprise—the new guy not only inspires the team to stay on the winning track, but also strikes up a romance with the state numbers-cruncher (Rachael Leigh Cook) assigned to aid in the merger. And that's not all folks. The success of the Tigers is sparked by the arrival of a troubled city teen come to live with his salt-of-the-earth grandparents who—the lad's recently widowed dad hopes—can get him back on the right track. Director David Mickey Evans' The Final Season is trying for something like a grand slam of uplift, but even though the corniness seems truly sincere, this is a double at best. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one with director David Mickey Evans, costar Sean Astin, executive producer Carl Borack, and producer Michael Wasserman; the other by producer Tony Wilson and real-life coaches Kent Stock and Jim Van Scoyoc), a 21-minute “making-of” featurette, the 13-minute featurette “The Real Season: The Spirit of Norway” on the Iowa town, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a so-so film.] (F. Swietek)