04/04/10 - Field of Dreams

Field of Dreams (1989, 107 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097351/

Well, the 2010 MLB season starts today for two teams and so I decided I should pay tribute in the appropriate way: watch what is regarded one of the best baseball movies ever. This was my first time to check out Field of Dreams but I did have high expectations.

The film stars Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella, a man who after moving to Iowa begins to hear voices in his corn field. "Build it and he will come" prompts him to tear down a lot of his corn and instead construct a baseball field. Following an adventure involving the ghost of baseball players past (headlined by Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson) and the reclusive writer Terence "Terry" Mann (James Earl Jones), Ray eventually gets to meet the ghost of his deceased father. Playing Ray's family is: Amy Madigan as Annie Kinsella and Gaby Hoffman as Karin Kinsella.

The obvious and huge plus in Field of Dreams is how well it gives the magic to baseball. Sure it's somewhat corny at times but if you really love baseball like me then you realize how wonderful and magical the game can be. The magical realism given it is just overall superbly handled. While this is an aspect of the movie through and through, I feel it works the best in the corn fields of Iowa. It's important to show that it's everywhere like in Minnesota and at Fenway Park (and to advance the story) but the Iowa parts are just better. I mean, I even knew some qualities of the movie going in and how well these scenes were done still gave me chills.

On the other side of the coin is the worst part of Field of Dreams: the long thirty or so minute sequence in the middle where Ray finds Mann. Besides the "comedy" that the film tries to bring up during this arc, I find it just overall too long and boring. The side trip to Minnesota after Boston just adds length on to this section. After a while I begin getting a "come on, let's return to Iowa" feeling and that's not a good sign. I imagine that this part is handled much better in the book, but it just doesn't translate to a good section of film.

My next complaint is in the comedy. Maybe some of the quirks and stuff were good for 1989 but now, over twenty years later, it's just hokey and stupid. I felt like a lot of the dialogue between Ray and Mann was supposed to make me laugh but it just fell flat. Similarly, a lot of Annie's lines seemed like they were geared to make me chuckle or something and they just missed the note as well. Really, I never found much comedy in the film at all, so pretty much whenever it tried (not just with these two instances) I left not being amused. However, on the plus side, each of these character is well handled. I don't think Annie is used enough to make her that memorable but I think that when the film tires to make me relate and care about her that it succeeds. Mann isn't that great of character because most of his development relies on the aforementioned humor, but getting over that, he advances the plot well and just has a demeanor that's hard to dislike. And finally there's Ray. Ray is great because we can easily see just how much he loves baseball. It's running in his veins if he's willing to tear down his farm because of a voice. The movie handles this passion really well.

Finally, I'd like to say how great the final scene is. It's cliché and everything but that doesn't make it any less amazing. The emotion by now is palpable and it's heart wrenching how well the movie plays up the expected ending. Again, it all just goes back to my feeling that the Iowa corn scenes are the best in the film as they just have "more magic" in them or something. The touch of having only people that believe in the powerful ability of baseball be able to see the ghosts is just an example of this great magic.

Overall, I gave this film a 8/10. There's a lot of bad spots here but when it works on all cylinders I can say that Field of Dreams is just about a perfect blend of magical realism and sports. Though not quite on the same level as Almost Famous, there's this passion that's clearly visible in the film and having this bumps the film up from the (probably more deserved) score of a 7/10. Though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't love this movie near as much if I weren't a lover of baseball that could relate to Ray to a large extent. I'm glad I checked it out in honor of the new baseball season.