A League of Their Own
★★★★ ½
This was a movie from my youth and I probably haven't seen it since high school. So naturally, we had to force it upon our two girls. They both stuck with it, but I was especially surprised that our four year-old paid attention because this is definitely not a film geared towards kids. I thought it completely held up and does an amazing job of telling this story. The cast is superb and I miss the type of films that have large ensembles, but where you can still differentiate between characters easily. I forgot how much energy Tom Hanks brings to his role and I wonder if the film would have been as revered if somebody else was cast in his spot.
When I was young, I didn't quite grasp onto the sibling dynamics going on in this film. Being a dad of two girls, it was fun to see the dynamic of Dottie and Kit play out. Also, it had never dawned on me that Dottie would have dropped the ball on purpose. I didn't realize how big of a debate this would cause in my household and how big of a talking point this scene was on the Internet. It just made me like the film even more that it left so much for the audience to interpret.
After seeing this again for, I don't know how many times, I think the film's only downfall is the present-day footage of the opening of the exhibit. Did we need all the callbacks for the movie to have an emotional payoff? This used to be my playground... Used to be...
