Hardball | 
| Director: Brian Robbins
Actors: Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane, John Hawkes, Bryan Hearne, Julian Griffith
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $0.94
You Save: $9.04 (91%)
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Rating:  105 reviews
Sales Rank: 17824
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: TM2602
ISBN: 079217948X
UPC: 097363307945
EAN: 9780792179481
ASIN: B00005JKE4
Theatrical Release Date: 2001
Release Date: February 19, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Keanu Reeves stars in this story that might best be described as Bad News Bears in the projects. Conor O'Neill (Reeves) is a charming ne'er-do-well with a disturbing gambling addiction. His penchant for betting on the wrong teams leaves him owing several thousand dollars to very violent people, and he ends up coaching a children's baseball team to pay off his debt. The movie skimps a bit on process: the kids start out as terrible players and become better but we don't see how; Conor starts caring but we don't see why. As by-the-numbers movies go, though, it isn't a bad one. The young actors in the cast are talented and understated. Most of the kids' characters are only barely fleshed out by the script, but this keeps the movie from being hijacked by extra-cute mugging. Parents should be cautioned--this movie has some very violent scenes that will frighten young children, and swearing is depicted as precocious and adorable. Still, like a baseball game, it isn't a bad way to spend your time. --Ali Davis
Product Description
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 100 more reviews...
HARDBALL July 2, 2009
Courtney Todd Stuart
I REALLY LOVED DIANE LANE IN THIS MOVIE AND WITH OUT THIS IS KEENU'S BEST MOVIE. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL TOUCHING STORY I JUST WASNT EXSPECTING THE LITTLE BOY TO GET SHOT
 Enragingly Honest - Encouragingly Hopeful. April 2, 2009
Andrina Abrahamse (Louisiana, USA)
A film, not unlike poetry projects different messages to different people.
This story begins where Conor, a hardened gambler finds himself on his knees in a sanctuary. The priest asks him if he's looking for faith or forgiveness. "I'm looking for the balls to cover the spread." He replies with submissive desperation. He returns to a bar where he loses himself in the purposeless world of gambling, finds himself in the desperate situation of not having enough money to cover his gambling debt, and winds up being beaten up by a loan shark. His desperation leads him to accept a job coaching a baseball team that consists of underprivileged kids from the crime infested projects for $500.00 a week. The team is short two players. Their school teacher, Sister Wilkes, played by Diane Lane, won't allow the two members who complete the team to play until they have read their book reports. Conor takes it upon himself to negotiate with her, and ends up agreeing to tutor the boys. Initially the coaching starts off as merely a means to an end, but as he spends more time with the boys and becomes familiarized with the dangers to which they are exposed and the conditions under which they are forced to live, he recognizes something more important than himself and his own problems. He teaches the boys to respect one another. He helps them to believe in themselves. One day when Conor presents himself in the classroom, dressed in pants that, to the amusement of the children are way too short for him, he finds himself being affected by the words of Kofi, who is requested by Siter Wilkes to give a review on the book that they were assigned to read. "Where I'm from do nobody father come back."
In a sequence of events that follow, Conor finds himself trying to cheer the boys up when they are down. The scene where Conor waves his arms in the air, and sings to B.I.G.'s rap song "Big Poppa" in an attempt to help Miles with his rhythm which he needs in order to pitch well, is both entertaining and heartwarming. For me, the best scene is portrayed when Conor reaches a cross-road, and has to choose between gambling his winnings and treating the Kekambas to a big league game. He chooses to treat the boys to the game, and on seeing the ecstasy on their faces, he derives obvious pleasure at allowing his own inner peace to parallel the happiness he sees in the children. His facial expresion reads - "Yeah, now this feels right!" After a profoundly tragic event, Conor is astounded by the boys' staying power and their ability to always show up; he tells them so.
In a world where we are exposed to an accelerated severing of the threads of human kindness, it is uplifting to watch a film in which the premise encompasses the message -- through the fertilizer a flower may grow. As for the role of Conor, no one could have played the role as perfectly as Keanu Reeves, as he possesses a quality that projects his own isolating sadness, which parallels that of the boys. The boys who played the team members of the Kekambas were outstanding actors. I highly recommend this film for all parents to see.
 A Miss. January 16, 2009
ADRIENNE MILLER (TENNESSEE)
Hardball seems charming at first but I just ended hating this film, too serious and soapy for me. Keanu Reeves and Diane Lane are good in this baseball comedy/drama but I couldn't get into the plot and the ending is so melodramatic. Skip this stereotypical film at all costs.
Charming Keanu January 10, 2009
maxmom (Fort Myers Fl)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In general I find Keanu Reeves to be stiff, wooden and lacking in acting skills. This is one of only 4 movies I really liked and appreciated him in. (Speed, The Watcher and The Gift are the others). In Hardball which is based on a true story Reeves plays a ne-er do well gambler with a big debt to pay off and ends up coaching an inner city little league team. The kids on the team are coping with all of the ills of project living you can imagine - random shootings, death, drugs, gangs, intimidation. Baseball offers them some respite from their reality. One of the sweetest scenes of this movie is when Reeves takes the kids to see their first major league baseball game and they yell to Sammy Sosa who acknowledges them...sweet, sweet, sweet. Watching the kids and spectators start singing Big Poppa by Biggie Smalls during a game is a hoot and a half. The ending is such a tear jerker that it is almost embarrassing to feel so moved by such a small story. And realize that it's a true story.
All in all this is a terrific little movie. Reeves and the children are truly a joy to watch. The story jerks your emotions all over the place but it never feels cloying or fake - just a bit manipulated. It's a shame this movie had very little support and was only in theaters for a few minutes. Consequently I often give this as a gift to people so they'll have the opportunity to see such a lovely moving film.
A classic uplifting film for the human sprit September 14, 2008
Derrick Dunn (Woodbridge,VA)
I remeber Hardball coming out of the week as 9/11 back in 2001 and at the time it was released it was just the type of movie, the country needed. Hardball is a uplifting movie that makes one feel good inside. Keanu Reeves shows some of his best atcing since River's Edge. Diane Lane is very good in the female lead also. The kids on the team are all also veyr good actors , many of whom make a apperance for the first time on screen. The film will make you laugh and cry and I 'm proud to have it in my DVD collection. I give it *** out of ****.
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