After Clint Eastwood’s career capstone as a racist with a heart of gold in 2008’s “Gran Torino,” the octogenarian actor announced it would be his last performance in front of the camera.
“You always want to quit while you’re ahead,” Eastwood listed as his reason for bowing out gracefully from the silver screen. “You don’t want to be like a fighter who stays too long in the ring until you’re not performing at your best.” Eastwood would have done well to take his own advice.
His new film “Trouble with the Curve” swaps the aforementioned boxing comparison for an equally strained baseball metaphor about elderly talent scout Gus (Eastwood) and his inability to give up the game. Look no further for dramatic irony. In a perfect inversion of “Moneyball,” Gus’ career is under threat by sabermetric-wielding number crunchers who don’t understand the “heart of the game.” The film panders to an older audience by pitting Gus’ life experiences against slimy usurper Phillip Sanderson’s (Matthew Lillard) computer skills, the bane of senior citizenry, to determine the Atlanta Braves’ first round draft pick. Gus travels out to a Field of Dreams in North Carolina in order to scout high school slugger Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill). Should Gus make the wrong decision about Bo, Phillip and the rest of the Braves will put him out to pasture. To make matters worse, Gus’ eyesight has degenerated to the point where he stumbles into objects like Mr. Magoo, while Eastwood stumbles through lines possibly intended for “Grumpy Old Men”-era Walter Matthau.
Thankfully, fulfillment triumphs as Gus’ estranged daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) leaves her career at a high-powered law firm long enough to tag along to North Carolina. At the expense of her case and her fiancé, Mickey cares for her ailing, curmudgeoned father while simultaneously falling for fellow talent scout Johnny (Justin Timberlake). As Bo becomes a hot prospect for numerous teams, intuition battles statistics and burgeoning relationships quickly reach their breaking point.
After “Million Dollar Baby” and “Gran Torino,” both of which feature Eastwood’s character throwing himself into his work because of a strained relationship with his daughter, “Trouble with the Curve” addresses the same material in the least challenging way possible. Director Robert Lorenz, a longtime assistant to Eastwood, telegraphs key plot points early undermining any tension in the story while making the audience wait for the plot to catch up to his directing. Pacing aside, the plot is problematic because Adams’ character is the one who transforms throughout the course of the film ostensibly making “Trouble with the Curve” her story despite her character being the least interesting one in the film. Rather than commit Eastwood to a feature-length comedy or provide Adams with a How Mickey Got Her Groove Back romance, Lorenz splits the difference and it doesn’t pay off for anyone.
As Adams’ character struggles with a business decision late in the film, Eastwood reminds her, “Don’t be afraid to walk away.” If only he followed his own advice as much as he gave it.
