My notes from the first half hour are all about how Clint Eastwood is old. Which I feel like is every recent Clint Eastwood movie. In the first 30 minutes, we learn that Eastwood (or at least Eastwood's character, which I consider to be one and the same):
- doesn't understand computers, even going so far as to use the words "inter-web" (in a non ironic way) when discussing how easy it is to research baseball statistics
- has trouble urinating
- can't back out of his garage without scraping the side of his car
- has to wear glasses to see and is embarrassed by it
- doesn't trust his doctor because "you're always reading about them cutting off the wrong part" even though this doctor has been with him for a while because Eastwood's daughter (or character's daughter) has his phone number.
And remember that's the first 30 minutes. I turned it off when the daughter, the tough nosed corporate lawyer (played by Amy Adams in what is in hindsight, a terrible job casting. I mean, Adams is clearly the first person I think of when I think "tough nosed" and "corporate") decides to take a vacation so she can go scout some baseball players with her estranged father because he can't see and he'll lose his job if he doesn't deliver. This despite the fact that she has been promised a partnership in her firm if she wins her current case. Oh, and did I mention she was estranged from her father and couldn't stand to be around him?
So without looking at a plot summary (promise that I haven't yet) let me tell you how I see this playing out.
Adams meets up with her father who, although initially reluctant, eventually agrees that she can help him. Over the next few days, the reconnect and develop a new found respect for each other. Maybe she even convinces him to give up meat. Or he convinces her (she's a vegetarian) to try a hamburger. Or a hot dog probably, since it's a baseball movie. During the trip, she develops feelings for Timberlake, who I'm assuming is another scout. At the end, she realizes that she's going to give up all the corporate stuff (including the semi-official lawyer boyfriend) and "run away" with Timberlake. 50/50 on Eastwood losing his job at the end, but finding happiness by learning to let go and find something else. So now, let's see what the wikipedia plot summary has to say....
- Adams "starts to take an active role in [Eastwood's] work to make up for his shortcomings" (the eyesight)
- They reconnect with Timberlake's character, now a scout
- Timberlake takes an interest in Adams
- A misunderstanding leads to hurt feelings between Timberlake and Eastwood, but Adams finds a new prospect
- The team's ownership realize that Eastwood knows more than the computer "geek", so they fire him and extend Eastwood's contract.
- Eastwood suggest's Adams become an agent for the prospect she found and she gets a partnership offer from the firm
- Timberlake and Adams kiss
So besides the part about trying a hot dog (which still could be in there) and the ambiguity (at least in the wikipedia summary) about whether Adams chooses baseball or law, I think I hit this one out of the park. Haha, puns.
