Bull Durham (1988)
Last Watch Date - April 21, 2024
Total Times Watched - Many times
Comments
It's baseball season folks, and that means it's a pretty cool time to watch.. baseball movies? Bull Durham is a classic that I've seen over and over, but I still enjoy it. I guess that's a mini review spoiler. WHATEVER.
Looking into the production of this movie, I found it pretty wild that they had the cast they did with such a small budget AND a first-time director. Susan Sarandon is probably the only person who could pull off the role of Annie and she might be what makes the movie. There are a few character dynamics in this movie: Annie and Nuke (Tim Robbins), Nuke and Crash (Kevin Costner), and Annie and Crash. It's definitely predictable if you've seen other romance movies, but it still works because of the cast.
The script is really good. It's filled with tons of baseball-isms that give it a sense of realism. You never really feel like it's pushing or reaching, it's like a nice hit streak that keeps going. Maybe it's not hitting DINGERS, but it's a solid single or double all throughout.
I can't finish this post without mentioning the absolute barrage of 50s nostalgia stuff within. It's A LOT. Old cars, old sayings, old people – it's kind of typical of 80s movies really. I can't blame the people who made these things though, 30 years ago was 1994. And when I was a kid when this came out, 1958 was only 30 years before! There's so much 90s nostalgia nonsense going on at the moment that it will feel very similar to people in 35-40 years, I'm sure.
Recommended?
Yeah, it's still a classic baseball/romance. Susan Sarandon is great and the baseball scenes are excellent.
