Rated PG, directed by Brian Robbins, with Keanu Reeves (Conor O'Neill), Diane Lane (Elizabeth Wilkes), John Hawkes (Ticky Tobin), Bryan C. Hearne (Andre Ray Peetes), Julian Griffith (Jefferson Albert Tibbs), A. Delo Ellis Jr (Miles Pennfield II), running time: 110 minutes.
Conor O'Neill is a low-level gambler who, when his debts accumulate into the thousands of dollars, discovers he has baseball bat-toting thugs chasing him. Desperate to bail himself out, he enlists the help of an investment banker friend on whom he's leaned more than once. The friend's help comes in the form of an offer to coach a little league baseball team for US$500 a week. O'Neill reluctantly takes the job, only to find he's better suited to it than he thought. As he takes to his team of inner-city kids -- and as a teacher who frequents the sidelines takes to him -- he comes to realize his own worth and the value of responsibility. Deliberate tugs on the heartstrings may leave some audience members wishing they'd rented The Bad News Bears instead.
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