Hardball 02

Keanu Reeves stars as Conor O'Neill, a likeable drunk with a knack for betting on the wrong teams. To pay off his gambling debts, he doesn't knock over a convenience store or steal from his mother, he ... wait for it ... agrees to coach a kiddie baseball team. Lest you think it's about become Ted's Excellent Little League Adventure, the kids on this team are not adorable little moppets. They are quite realistically portayed -- inner-city kids with bigger problems than missed pop-flies and vocabularies that might curl some parents' hair. The transformative aspects of the plot are glossed over -- why does Conor suddenly really care about the team, and how come the kids are suddenly ace players? -- but Reeves fans and baseball fans will likely make it through the seventh-inning stretch.