Movie review (Hard Ball)

Hard ball
Hardball has variously been compared to The Bad News Bears and The Mighty Ducks, but this movie strives to be more hard-hitting than either of those family-friendly, comedic efforts. A more apropos likening might be to Dangerous Minds, the flaccid, Hollywood-ized tale of a teacher who makes a difference to her underprivileged students. Hardball is about a reluctant baseball coach who changes the lives of his pre-teen players even as they change his perspective on his own existence. The movie is occasionally trite, often formulaic, and frequently familiar. Surprisingly, however,…