The Rookie (2002)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 152
Fresh: 127 | Rotten: 25
A heart-warming sports flick, The Rookie greatly benefits from understated direction and the emotional honesty Dennis Quaid brings to the role of Jim Morris.
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 3
A heart-warming sports flick, The Rookie greatly benefits from understated direction and the emotional honesty Dennis Quaid brings to the role of Jim Morris.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 60,274
Movie Info
The true story of a middle-aged baseball rookie comes to the screen from Finding Forrester (2000) screenwriter Mike Rich and the studio behind the previous year's equally inspirational sports drama Remember the Titans (2001). Twelve years ago, the pro baseball aspirations of Texas pitcher Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) were derailed by a severe shoulder injury. Jim became a high school science teacher and baseball coach, married his sweetheart, Lorri (Rachel Griffiths), and settled down to raise a
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Cast
-
Dennis Quaid
Jim Morris -
Rachel Griffiths
Lorri Morris -
Jay Hernandez
Joaquin "Wack" Campos -
Beth Grant
Olline Morris -
Angus T. Jones
Hunter -
Brian Cox
Jim Morris Sr. -
Rick Gonzalez
Rudy Bonilla -
Chad Lindberg
Joe David West -
Angelo Spizzirri
Joel De La Garza -
Royce D. Applegate
Henry -
Russell Richardson
Brooks -
Raynor Scheine
Frank -
David Blackwell
Cal -
Blue Deckert
Dave Patterson -
Dan Kamin
Mac -
Trevor Morgan
Young Jim
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All Critics (152) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (127) | Rotten (25) | DVD (31)
It's Quaid and his fellow actors, Rachel Griffiths and Brian Cox, who lift the film out of its intermittent doldrums, and together they deliver that rare thing: a nuanced sports movie.
Until The Rookie came along, I'd forgotten how good and smart a family film can be.
Deftly constructed to stoke the baseball-phenom fantasies of coulda-shoulda-woulda middle-aged guys and fields-of-dreaming young diamond studs.
All the uplift could easily get cloying, but director John Lee Hancock knows how to keep things in control, and the whole is surprisingly satisfying.
If they gave an Oscar for Best Performance in a Mediocre Movie, Dennis Quaid should already be clearing his mantelpiece.
You can see why the filmmakers optioned the story from a Sports Illustrated article: It just works.
The Rookie is shot through with star-spangled sentiment, but its light touch and "true story" origins combine to make it feelgood fun even for schmaltz-phobic Brits.
Slow moving, even pedestrian at times, yet this Dennis Quaid vehicle cranks out a lot of genuinely heartwarming moments along the way.
Earnest, uplifting baseball melodrama
Sweet and engaging despite some flaws.
In one of his greatest performances, Dennis Quaid puts nasty velocity and wicked movement on his delivery. A patient, emotionally honest sports film about resurrecting a dream and investing all you never knew you had.
It spreads the inspirational butter thicker than the diamond action and buries the school team beneath Morris' quest for a new career, but develops a lyrical sense of what it's like to resurrect self-worth and chase one's dreams.
Earnest to the point of blandness.
The Rookie is one of those rare, wonderful 'formula' films that ... favors understatement over exaggeration, subtlety over sentimentality.
I would almost rather have seen an A&E biography than a concocted Hollywood parable of unrealized dreams.
A fine example of heartwarming real-life drama, with performances that ring true and some terrific moments that befit a classic American Dream story.
My all-time favorite baseball movie.
It shows us that things may not be like they used to, but we can still enjoy the celebration of things past.
Baseball season is here, folks, and The Rookie is a good opening day experience.
Sem apelar para o melodrama, o filme (baseado em uma história real) emociona e inspira o espectador.
Credit to the actors for still making it such a heartwarming affair, but like its leading character, The Rookie had the potential to be so much more.
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