...manages to overcome the entirely underwhelming nature of its first act.
The Final Season (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:49
Fresh:13
Rotten:36
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: The Final Season recycles clichés we've seen in countless other sports movies, making for an unoriginal and uninspiring addition to the genre.
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Directed by David Mickey Evans (THE SANDLOT) THE FINAL SEASON is based on the true the story of a small town baseball team facing insurmountable odds. Tradition in Norway, Iowa (pop. 586) can be... Directed by David Mickey Evans (THE SANDLOT) THE FINAL SEASON is based on the true the story of a small town baseball team facing insurmountable odds. Tradition in Norway, Iowa (pop. 586) can be summed up in one word, Baseball. From father to son, generation to generation, this high school David exists to defeat Goliaths ten times its size. As Coach Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe) leads the team to its 19th State title, it seems following it with a 20th is a forgone conclusion. The unexpected strikes when bureaucracy intercedes merging the town with another. Petty jealousies and political designs conspire to rob Norway of its heritage and a 20th Championship. Making matters worse, legendary coach Van Scoyoc is fired and replaced with a one-season assistant coach, Kent Stock (Sean Astin) – a move that seems to guarantee the team’s failure. THE FINAL SEASON is a film about the sudden nature of change, the identity of a small town and the strength that brings out the best when we need it most. Based on a screenplay by Art D’Alessandro and James Grayford the film also stars Rachel Leigh Cook, Michael Angarano and Tom Arnold. --© Yari Film Group [More]
Starring: Sean Astin, Powers Boothe, Rachael Leigh Cook, Michael Angarano
Starring: Sean Astin, Powers Boothe, Rachael Leigh Cook, Michael Angarano, Tom Arnold, James Gammon, Larry Miller, Marshall Bell
Director: David Mickey Evans
Director: David Mickey Evans
Screenwriter: Art D'Alessandro, James Grayford
Producer: Michael Wasserman, Steven Schott, Tony Wilson, D. Parker Widemire, Herschel Weingrod
Composer: Nathan Wang
Studio: Yari Film Group
Reviews for The Final Season
Most of the townspeople are archetypes. In fact, you get the feeling the town is populated by character actors and not real people.
An exciting family picture, worthy of viewing, if only for the warm-fuzzy feeling.
It never hits a home run. But "Final Season," an adequate movie about an above-average baseball team, isn't a loser, either.
Other than what happens on the playing field in 'The Final Season,' there's not much else going on.
Inspirational but overly cliched with its pseudo-earnestness...In short, this heartland-based hokum about a high school baseball team is definitely corn off the cob.
The tagline should be changed from How Do You Want To Be Remembered, to How Do You Want To Be Forgotten? You will find yourself forgetting too!
Stereotypes are meant to exalt small-town values, but The Final Season is proof that it's hard to paint masterpiece in broad strokes.
It moves along at a brisk pace, the ball games are skillfully done and its point about the need for local decisions -- like the closing a school -- to be made at the local level is a point well made.
Ever notice that sports movies that mean to inspire us with the message that winning isn't everything almost always end up with a victory?
Perhaps if Disney had gotten their hands on it, The Final Season would have gotten the spitball polish it needs.
Why is it enjoyable to watch sporting events depicted when we know how the games will end -- how they have to end? Where does the tension come from? Why do we care when we know already?
So relentlessly earnest and maudlin it makes Hoosiers look like a Martin Scorsese film, The Final Season is the latest and worst sports-themed underdog story to get the big screen treatment.
For once, here's a sports movie that doesn't feature players who are expected to lose.
Belying the claim there's no longer any truth in advertising, The Final Season is exactly the formulaic, by-the-numbers movie it appears to be. These Tigers deserved better.
Remarkably, the movie rights itself once the actual season begins, focusing on game strategy more than the usual heart-stopping pep talks.
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