Baseball movies usually aren't exciting. In fact, most sports movies aren't. To make a sports movie good, you need to focus on the characters and the plot. Or, you can just make it generic, like Mr. 3000, the first real Bernie Mac vehicle. The character's ego-centric, has a one-note love interest, learns his lesson, etc. No new ground is really covered, and there's not really any huge laughs. But I'd rather watch it again than get a lobotomy, and that's more than I can say about most other movies out there.
Stan Ross (Mac), an egotistical power hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers, aims to just get in the hall of fame, so once he gets 3000 hits, he quits. Nine years later, after milking the 3000 until the udder's dry, it's revealed that Stan only hit 2997 hits. Stan decides to rejoin the Brewers (they need all the help they can get) to get his 3 hits needed to be a shoe-in to the hall of fame. He's not treated with respect by his former teammates, yadda yadda yadda. Think Space Cowboys except on earth and one guy.
Much like Head of State, Bad Santa, two other movies in which Mac had small roles, there weren't many laughs. A moment here or there, but really I don't remember really laughing much at Mr. 3000. The old jokes were, well, old-they put a walker at his locker, how hilarious is that. He's also not as strong-he can't do exercises! Every joke seemed old and overused. And don't you hate it when in movies, tough guys talk about effeminate things (in this case, soap operas). It's just annoying, and still seemed predictable. And none of the supporting characters really added, either. The funniest character, I guess, would be the token Asian guy. Still, it's nothing that this movie required.
As expected, the movie had a one-note romantic relationship between Stan and Mo (Angela Bassett), his former girlfriend and now a reporter for ESPN (by the way, this movie had so many product-and TV show-placements it's not even funny. Actually, it's funnier than most of the film, and these placements weren't funny), which every sports movie must have in now. The whole backstory of their relationship isn't really explained, it seemed forced, whatever. But on the other hand, Mr. 3000 did prove its point, brought things around full circle, and ended up having a clear, simple, but worthy message at the end. Speaking of the end, it was really predictable. Not just really, I mean really. I couldn't really buy all of the twists in Stan, but it's a movie, so I guess I'll accept them. For a comedian, Mac did a surprisingly good job. He was effective in the dramatic scenes, and tried to be funny in the comedic scenes. He may soon become a leading man in comedies, and then turn over to dramas, a la Jim Carrey.
Director Charles Stone III (Drumline) is a mixed bag. One pet peeve I have is that TV shows are always in the aspect ratio of the movie, yet Stone doesn't do that. It's a small thing, but I congratulate him on that. But Stone can't seem to get many laughs out of this supposedly promising material. At least the tagline's funny.
My rating: 5/10
Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.
Stan Ross (Mac), an egotistical power hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers, aims to just get in the hall of fame, so once he gets 3000 hits, he quits. Nine years later, after milking the 3000 until the udder's dry, it's revealed that Stan only hit 2997 hits. Stan decides to rejoin the Brewers (they need all the help they can get) to get his 3 hits needed to be a shoe-in to the hall of fame. He's not treated with respect by his former teammates, yadda yadda yadda. Think Space Cowboys except on earth and one guy.
Much like Head of State, Bad Santa, two other movies in which Mac had small roles, there weren't many laughs. A moment here or there, but really I don't remember really laughing much at Mr. 3000. The old jokes were, well, old-they put a walker at his locker, how hilarious is that. He's also not as strong-he can't do exercises! Every joke seemed old and overused. And don't you hate it when in movies, tough guys talk about effeminate things (in this case, soap operas). It's just annoying, and still seemed predictable. And none of the supporting characters really added, either. The funniest character, I guess, would be the token Asian guy. Still, it's nothing that this movie required.
As expected, the movie had a one-note romantic relationship between Stan and Mo (Angela Bassett), his former girlfriend and now a reporter for ESPN (by the way, this movie had so many product-and TV show-placements it's not even funny. Actually, it's funnier than most of the film, and these placements weren't funny), which every sports movie must have in now. The whole backstory of their relationship isn't really explained, it seemed forced, whatever. But on the other hand, Mr. 3000 did prove its point, brought things around full circle, and ended up having a clear, simple, but worthy message at the end. Speaking of the end, it was really predictable. Not just really, I mean really. I couldn't really buy all of the twists in Stan, but it's a movie, so I guess I'll accept them. For a comedian, Mac did a surprisingly good job. He was effective in the dramatic scenes, and tried to be funny in the comedic scenes. He may soon become a leading man in comedies, and then turn over to dramas, a la Jim Carrey.
Director Charles Stone III (Drumline) is a mixed bag. One pet peeve I have is that TV shows are always in the aspect ratio of the movie, yet Stone doesn't do that. It's a small thing, but I congratulate him on that. But Stone can't seem to get many laughs out of this supposedly promising material. At least the tagline's funny.
My rating: 5/10
Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.