The Perfect Game

2010

Well-meaning but thick with cliches, this inspirational sports drama tells the true story of a rookie baseball team that came out of Monterrey, Mexico, to win the Little League World Series in 1957. Clifton Collins Jr. plays the coach, a native son whose major-league dreams have dead-ended in a janitorial job with the Saint Louis Cardinals; he whips a crew of eager kids into a winning unit, though they encounter bigotry on the road as they beat one white team after another. Because they go undefeated, the racial angle has to supply most of the dramatic tension, which is unfortunate given the recent glut of similar stories (Pride, The Great Debaters, Glory Road, Coach Carter, Remember the Titans). The kids are interchangeable, and most of the adults are stock characters: a stouthearted priest (Cheech Marin) who blesses the kids' gloves, a wisecracking newspaper reporter (Emilie de Ravin) who covers the team, a virginal senorita (Patricia Manterola), perpetually draped in a lace shawl, who serves as love interest for the coach. William Dear (Angels in the Outfield) directed. PG. By J.R. Jones

Official Site: www.theperfectgamemovie.com
Director: William Dear
Producer: David Salzberg, Christian Tureaud, Mark Koch and W. Winokur
Cast: Clifton Collins Jr., Cheech Marin, Moises Arias, Jake Austin, Ryan Ochoa, Emilie de Ravin, Patricia Manterola, Louis Gossett Jr., Jansen Panettiere, David Koechner, Bruce McGill and Frances Fisher