Trouble with the Curve 2012

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: If the modest and moving Trouble With the Curve won't overwhelm anybody, it's still an engaging winner, like a junk-ball pitcher who stays in the bigs on grit and heart. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: "Trouble" is second-rate Eastwood, existing in a parallel universe where the celebrity has been reduced to a Hallmark movie-of-the-week actor, not one of the most respected directors in Hollywood. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: The Eastwood/Adams interplay is absolutely great, laugh-out-loud funny a lot of the time and quietly moving when it needs to be. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The pat and occasionally preposterous story is really just a pretext, a serviceable scaffolding for a handful of expert, satisfying performances. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Half domestic family drama, half gentle sports saga with the saga part missing, Trouble with the Curve is less riveting than it ought to be. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: I'd call it "Neanderthalball." Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: You can see every single twist and turn of the plot coming at you from 10 miles away. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Adams and Eastwood find real drama in material that, like its star, is creaky but sturdy, turning it into a study of lost opportunities and parental regret. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's the first time Eastwood has acted since "Gran Torino" in 2008, and it's nice to be reminded that there is a reason he has been a movie star all these years. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: In one of the film's weirder moments, Lorenz uses a shot from "Dirty Harry" for a flashback sequence, and it's almost more resonant than this small, flat-footed film can hold. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Robert Lorenz, Eastwood's longtime assistant director, moves up to the lead spot but can't do anything with Randy Brown's ham-fisted script. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Of course the movie is sentimental. A fairy tale? Yes, it's that too. Satisfying? Yep. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: For all its occasional tin ear, Dr Phil dialogue, its contrivances and shortcuts, this remains a fundamentally sound and solid entertainment with a deep-rooted conviction that how we treat each other matters. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Eastwood, in his 80s, looks a lot trimmer than some of the performers in this film half his age. He may be the only octogenarian actor who has to play older than his age to be convincing. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Muttering in a hoarse whisper, stooping just a bit, [Eastwood] finds an angry grace and pathos more satisfying than anything else in this grooved fastball of a movie. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: If you give it a chance to work its quiet magic, it might make your day. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Steeerike! Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Even those who don't know a foul tip from a chicken wing will be able to spot the desperate plays. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Film.com: Even if Eastwood's grumpy old man routine wears you down - it's perhaps too much of a not-very-good thing - there are lots of terrific second bananas. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: The old pro scores with another hit right up the middle. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This amiable, old-fashioned film is no world-beater, but it underlines why, appearances with empty chairs excepted, it is always a pleasure to see this man on the screen. Read more

Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News: "Trouble with the Curve" may not be the Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, but it's a fine afternoon or evening at the ballpark. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Nobody would pay much attention to this plodding but good-hearted film if not for its star, Clint Eastwood, although he's just dialing in the go-to Cantankerous Old Man mode on which he has relied for a decade or so. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Trouble With the Curve" as predictable and suspenseless as a children's film. It's a softball straight down the middle. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Lorenz ... lays in everything methodically, fully, but without much invention or energy; you can imagine each plot development ten minutes before it arrives. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: [There] are powerful scenes, not because of what we've invested in this pleasant film, but what we've invested in Eastwood. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Trouble with the Curve enthusiastically showcases the sparkling Adams while making its case - tersely, of course - for tradition, experience and intuition. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Eastwood, well, is Eastwood. In filmmaking, at least, he's sure of what he's doing. As a director, he remains challenging; merely acting in "Curve," he knows what the crowd wants, from threats to punks to soliloquies muttered through clenched teeth. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: At times, "Trouble With the Curve" is just as smart as "Moneyball," which it all but challenges to a fight. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: The good news is that this daddy/daughter reconciliation story connects with the ball. The not-so-good: It's a blooper. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This isn't the worst performance Eastwood has given in his 57-year career, but it's his least inspired in about a decade. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Trouble With the Curve" is a solid double down the line. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Any Eastwood film is notable above all for its professionalism. If the story here has certain foreseeable moments, that's not to say they aren't set up well and deliver right on time. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The plot couldn't be more cornball. Still, there's no denying the connection Eastwood makes with Adams. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Trouble With the Curve" is an absolute home run, the total package of charming romantic comedy, poignant family drama and superb acting. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Everything about "Trouble With the Curve" is as streamlined and hollow as a Wiffle Ball bat. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: One of those schematic by-the-number jobs that telegraphs its every pitch. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Trouble with the Curve is one of those easy-going old-time movies that they say studios don't make anymore. They still do on occasion, but you need a guy like Clint Eastwood to pull them off. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: Eastwood and Adams do the best they can with the cornball sentimentality and cheesy dialogue, but first-time director Robert Lorenz merely photographs the on- and off-field action. Give it a pass. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Fortunately, first-time director and frequent Eastwood producer Robert Lorenz seems less interested in the story's overall mawkishness than in relishing the stellar cast he's assembled. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Its title notwithstanding, there's nothing that remotely approaches a narrative curve ball in this tired saga of an aging baseball scout. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Robert Lorenz's square but sturdy directing debut rests on the wonderfully spiky chemistry between Eastwood and Amy Adams as a testy old scout and his equally strong-willed daughter. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Conscientiously pulls out conflicts and then dutifully tucks in those loose ends, never making a point in any way that might puzzle the slowest audience member. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: What promised to be a modest, refreshingly unforced little comedy turns out to be low energy to a fault. Read more