Major League 1989

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: It skims along agreeable surfaces, expertly balancing its comedy with melodrama and fulfilling expectations right on schedule. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Ward directs his actors as adroitly as he has written for them, and the vulnerability that he allows his three stars to reveal is really what makes the movie work. Read more

Elizabeth Maupin, Orlando Sentinel: It has its moments, but it also has long, slow stretches where you feel like standing up and wandering around and maybe going out to hunt up a beer. That's fine for baseball, but it's not the way movies are supposed to work. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Somebody should tell Ward that winning isn't everything. Character is. And this is what his movie lacks. Read more

Caryn James, New York Times: The film is so loopy that it glides over its cliches and indulges in some congenial movie-baseball silliness. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Slick predictability is about all it has in mind, down to the last trite freeze-frame. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Major League doesn't try too hard or aim too high, but it is pretty funny. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: What redeems it is that the action sequences are superbly filmed, climaxing with Sheen's bullish entry into the arena at make-or-break time, the crowd singing 'Wild Thing' in clamouring unison. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: For sheer crowd-pleasing fun it belts one high into the left-field bleachers. Read more

Hal Hinson, Washington Post: Shamelessly formulaic. Read more