Those who have even a small soft spot for baseball's soothing rhythms will be hard-pressed to resist it.
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This sentimental drama is wildly uneven as it switches between ballpark scenes, which are very involving, and romantic episodes, which are badly overplayed.
50
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
The film's larger, surprisingly mature emotional rhythms are strong enough to pull it through.
Costner's determination to avoid change keeps this baseball movie at a low line drive when it might have knocked one into the bleachers.
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The weighty themes of loss, regret and abdication of personal responsibility are undermined by the reverential use of baseball as a symbol of mankind's potential for selfless greatness.
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The real love affair in For Love of the Game is between Costner and himself.
40
Film.comSean Means
Film.comSean Means
Costner's serious-as-a-heart-attack performance...slowly kills the movie's energy in a gooey morass of forced sincerity.
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
For the first 100 minutes or so I found this hokey but serviceable; after that my watch became more meaningful than anything I could locate on-screen.
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The baseball half of the story just slightly works. ... Nothing in [the other] half of the film works.