The Scout (1994)

If you ever had dreams of being a big-league star, in any sport, then you have to watch this flick. It's classic Albert Brooks. But, it is like watching a Rocky comedy. Tears come to my eyes evewn after the 10th viewing. Fraser is great. You don't need to be a sports fan to like the movie, it is good regardless. As a baseball fan, it was nice seeing Yankee Stadium. I went there in the last year of the original stadium. It was an historical stadium. Though, I hated paying $9 for a beer, but it was nice being able to take the subway to get there. Other baseball flicks that are good are "It Happens Every Spring" and naturally, "Bang the Drum Slowly".

Fmovies: Albert Brooks stars as a down on his luck desperate baseball scout who finds a golden arm (Brendan Fraser) while in Mexico. Unfortunately he is a little bit eccentric. Has some good bits dealing with the fish out of water plot but overall it doesnt build up any steam and just kind of fizzles itself away.. on a scale of one to ten.. 5

Really The Scout is a sort of dumb comedy, but that can be good. It is rather silly and that is the point. It's plot is implausible. The plot twists are odd and somewhat predictable. But I liked it and watched it more than once. So don't write it off because it doesn't fall into what the ideal of a baseball movie should be. If you write it off do it because it does not live up to its cheesy comedy roots, and frankly it odes that. If I had a VCR here I'd be running out to the Blockbuster now.

The Scout fmovies. First of all, let's deal with the fact that this movie isn't at all about baseball. Not in any real sense of the sport - it's more of a wry comedy that Albert Brooks specializes in. Brendan Fraser stars in the type of role he'd spend the next few years of his career perfecting - the lovable doofus who doesn't quite have a clue but is impossible to truly dislike. He's Steve Nebraska - uber-prospect baseball pitcher who has found his life and career derailed and ends up pitching semipro baseball in Mexico. Brooks is a baseball scout on the downside of his career, in purgatory south of the border when he discovers the immensely talented - but quite immature - Nebraska. He sees this as his ticket back to the bigtime and shops his pitching prospect around the majors, eventually signing with the Yankees where Nebraska makes his debut in the World Series.

Now is when this film careens towards the edge and drives off a cliff. It's not about baseball, fine. But it involves baseball to a heavy degree, even including several major leaguers and baseball people in cameos. The climactic scene takes place in Yankee Stadium during the World Series. It may not be a sports movie, but it owes its entire premise to the sport of baseball, and as a result, owes that game a semblance of respect. What it ends up doing is shafting the game so completely and making such a mockery of baseball that it ruins whatever it had built up through the rest of the film.

There is simply no excuse for building Steve Nebraska as the greatest pitcher ever - a guy who not only throws 110 mph and knocks over his catcher AND the umpire with pitches, but also hits like Barry Bonds. A guy whose first ever major league appearance is in Game One of the World Series - not only a ludicrous prospect for dramatic purposes, but completely impossible in real life (the rules of baseball don't allow this, discussion ends there). A guy whose debut game consists of throwing 81 straight fastballs past major league hitters - none of whom even so much as make contact - and who throws all of them at 110 mph. (Infamous point - the last pitch is FASTER than the first pitch). Physics dictate a guy like this would completely shred his rotator cuff, labrum muscles, and probably destroy every ligament in his elbow. Not to mention any major league lineup worth its salt (for instance, one playing in the World Series) would sit on this guy's fastball and absolutely torch him the second time through the order.

Is this nitpicking? I don't think so. The Scout may be better judged as a comedy than a baseball movie, but it can't totally remove itself from the sporting aspect. I think that any movie that involves baseball as heavily as The Scout does owe it to its audience - as well as its subject matter - to make some slightest bit of effort to craft something that doesn't insult fans of the game. You can make sentimental stories that use baseball as a backdrop - and involve legendarily talented players - that don't mock the game and flip it the middle finger. The Natural comes to mind.

As a comedy, it's average. As a baseball movie, it's completely insulting and awful.

Sent on a route through the deepest parts of Mexico because of a big screw-up, New York Yankees talent scout, Brooks, finds the pitcher of the century in Fraser: a top-notch pitcher and a very good hitter, too. The only problem is that Fraser has the mind of a pre-adolescent teen, whose goals are simple, but his temper and emotional needs get in the way.

The movie has a good premise, and the stars of the baseball diamond appear in many cameos (including Yankees mogul Steinbrenner) have a nice touch. The actors try to do a good job, but they just don't pull this movie off. There is no "believability" to it! I just don't buy it!

The only good scene where Fraser demonstrates his child-like anger is when he tells the photographer to, "stop taking pictures of me...weren't the first thirty-four enough?" His emotional attachment to Brooks is found early on, but the therapist's theory of "possible homocidal tendencies" towards Brooks is not brought out enough in the movie. There is no substance to this film. If you're a Fraser fan, you might enjoy this film, but I found little else of any value and no credibility in this film.

Albert Brooks and Brendan Fraser are pure excellence in this! Also Michael Rapaport in the beginning was adorable as the nervous baseball player, which is interesting because he hated going on the rollercoaster in True Romance; he had to be drugged to look happy so I think it's cool he ran away from baseball in this. Aside from that stuff though this is a heartwarming movie where Brendan Fraser is basically the best baseball player ever catching or hitting "He's got the touch" and the drama in this spot on.