'If you film it, they will come' this is the phrase movie studio executives wish was the rule of thumb when it came to releasing baseball themed features. This genre has become a rarity in recent years and the select few that have gone on to find success have become even scarcer. Only one has ever crossed the once coveted $100 million barrier, that being A League of Their Own in 1992, and few have come close to even achieving that once famous feat, the closest being The Rookie in 2002. Baseball may be America's favorite pastime (not so much as in past years) but it's clear that sport fans would prefer to keep the realms of reality and Hollywood separate. And yet, even beyond that indelible black-eye on the genre, there lays the classics Field of Dreams, Angels in the Outfield, The Sandlot, Major League, and Bull Durham. Unfortunately the movie studios are no longer interested making a classic that is to say they aren't interested in making a classic that fails to recoup their investment, or, at the very least, grab a few Oscar nods. Considering Mr. 3000 is a far-cry from a Best Picture win, Touchstone Pictures hopes, desperately, that it makes its money back and considering the year they are having, they better pray for a miracle.
The story for Mr. 3000 centers on a former big league baseball player who must return to game he left years ago in order to regain a historic milestone that was taken from him thanks to technical error. Stan Ross was once one of the greatest baseball players of his generation. He had the energy, the ambition, and the passion to play the game with every ounce of strength, not just for him self, but for the love of the game, whether it be win or lose. But somewhere down the line of his illustrious career, on his way to achieving the 3000th hit mark, he lost understanding of what it really meant to play the game and slowly began to focus every bit of media attention on him self rather then the team swearing at the press, insulting fans, and, to top it all off, quitting midway through the Milwaukee Brewers playoff run season once he achieved the prize he craved so much his 3000th career hit. Unfortunately, ten years later, as he wanted in zealous anticipation to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a statistical error is found in the records and the discovery is made that 'Mr. 3000' is actually 'Mr. 2997', thus losing his shot at greatness. Not willing to live this down, and the owner of the Brewers desperate to get sports fans packed into Miller Park, both the team and Mr. Ross come to an agreement where he will be able to come out of retirement to regain his coveted crown if he agrees to not hit his actually '3000th hit' until the team is back home. At first this agreement seems quite simple but as time progresses, 'Mr. Hot Shot Major-Leaguer' is more out of shape then he once thought and, what's more, he discovers the true love of the game was never lost, he just had to know where to look. The story for Mr. 3000 has its fair share of problems, namely in the fact that it can never fully decided whether it wants to be an inspirational no nonsense sports drama or a flat-out irrelevant comedy. Here's an ultimatum for the filmmakers: pick one and stick with it. Stop switching back and forth between the two or, if its that hard of a decision that you can't make up your mind, then at the very least have a somewhat healthy mix rather then the unbalanced mess that's present on screen.
In the same light as the film's tag line, Bernie Mac 'puts the 'I' back in team' as the film's entire focus is on his character alone. Despite appearing in small roles in over fifteen films since 1992, Mr. 3000 marks Bernie Mac's first leading role in a feature film and he makes a valiant effort in the role despite the weak material. Although advertisements have led many to believe this film was going to be an all-out slap-stick baseball comedy, something along the line of Major League, though no where near the greatness, the film is actually more of drama then anything else and Mac does a remarkable job at invoking the emotions on screen of a man trying to cope with his demons, in this case his arrogance and self-centeredness. And poor Paul Sorvino what has his career come to when he's reduce to appearing in insipid roles such as this? Sorvino, best known for his roles in Goodfellas and Nixon, or, to the intended teenage audience, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, looks as though he's dying a dog's death on screen and. And what's worse is that he has few speaking lines at all throughout the feature (the only time he does speak is at the very end and it just ends up being a bunch of garbled anger rants and obscenities). The filmmakers couldn't have made a more pointless character if they tried. At the most they could have shoved this character deeply into the background and just given Sorvino cameo credit instead.
Overall, Mr. 3000, as valiant an effort as it gives trying to invoke an inspirational message of teamwork and devotion to the game, strikes out when its step up to the plate thanks to a one-two-three combo-punch of inconsistency, insufficient material, and a horrible backdrop. First off, the feature's main problem lies in the fact that the filmmakers can't decide what direction to pull this movie toward the emotional melodrama or the slap-stick comedy. The fact that a good amount of material isn't all that funny is bad enough, but to have the audience confused as to where the film is pulling them is even worse. Secondly, let's give credit where credit is due Bernie Mac should have no trouble dealing with the transition from venerable side-kick to illustrious leading man, given that he chooses his scripts properly, but no matter how. Had this been an R-rated movie then Mac would have had more room to roam and given his fans what they expect. Granted the language in this film is probably excessive for what is usually allowed, it isn't anywhere near what would normally come from Mac's routines and often the audience finds him holding back, which isn't what they paid for. And lastly, from the viewpoint of a sports fan, no amount of glitz and glamour can make the Milwaukee Brewers look anything close to an inspirational baseball team. Even for those unfamiliar with the area of sports, if you lived in the state of Wisconsin you would be well familiar with state of affairs of the losing sports team. It may be nice to dream but do it with some other team and not the Brewers because once you enter that stadium, dreams are crushed. It's harsh but it's the truth, and those coming from the state of Wisconsin would know it all too well. In the end, Mr. 3000 is a good start off vehicle for Bernie Mac to learn from his mistakes and become a more prosperous leading man. As for the audience, the lesson of the day is not to be misled by advertisements, as the phrase 'what you see is what you get' is not the case with this film.
The story for Mr. 3000 centers on a former big league baseball player who must return to game he left years ago in order to regain a historic milestone that was taken from him thanks to technical error. Stan Ross was once one of the greatest baseball players of his generation. He had the energy, the ambition, and the passion to play the game with every ounce of strength, not just for him self, but for the love of the game, whether it be win or lose. But somewhere down the line of his illustrious career, on his way to achieving the 3000th hit mark, he lost understanding of what it really meant to play the game and slowly began to focus every bit of media attention on him self rather then the team swearing at the press, insulting fans, and, to top it all off, quitting midway through the Milwaukee Brewers playoff run season once he achieved the prize he craved so much his 3000th career hit. Unfortunately, ten years later, as he wanted in zealous anticipation to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a statistical error is found in the records and the discovery is made that 'Mr. 3000' is actually 'Mr. 2997', thus losing his shot at greatness. Not willing to live this down, and the owner of the Brewers desperate to get sports fans packed into Miller Park, both the team and Mr. Ross come to an agreement where he will be able to come out of retirement to regain his coveted crown if he agrees to not hit his actually '3000th hit' until the team is back home. At first this agreement seems quite simple but as time progresses, 'Mr. Hot Shot Major-Leaguer' is more out of shape then he once thought and, what's more, he discovers the true love of the game was never lost, he just had to know where to look. The story for Mr. 3000 has its fair share of problems, namely in the fact that it can never fully decided whether it wants to be an inspirational no nonsense sports drama or a flat-out irrelevant comedy. Here's an ultimatum for the filmmakers: pick one and stick with it. Stop switching back and forth between the two or, if its that hard of a decision that you can't make up your mind, then at the very least have a somewhat healthy mix rather then the unbalanced mess that's present on screen.
In the same light as the film's tag line, Bernie Mac 'puts the 'I' back in team' as the film's entire focus is on his character alone. Despite appearing in small roles in over fifteen films since 1992, Mr. 3000 marks Bernie Mac's first leading role in a feature film and he makes a valiant effort in the role despite the weak material. Although advertisements have led many to believe this film was going to be an all-out slap-stick baseball comedy, something along the line of Major League, though no where near the greatness, the film is actually more of drama then anything else and Mac does a remarkable job at invoking the emotions on screen of a man trying to cope with his demons, in this case his arrogance and self-centeredness. And poor Paul Sorvino what has his career come to when he's reduce to appearing in insipid roles such as this? Sorvino, best known for his roles in Goodfellas and Nixon, or, to the intended teenage audience, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, looks as though he's dying a dog's death on screen and. And what's worse is that he has few speaking lines at all throughout the feature (the only time he does speak is at the very end and it just ends up being a bunch of garbled anger rants and obscenities). The filmmakers couldn't have made a more pointless character if they tried. At the most they could have shoved this character deeply into the background and just given Sorvino cameo credit instead.
Overall, Mr. 3000, as valiant an effort as it gives trying to invoke an inspirational message of teamwork and devotion to the game, strikes out when its step up to the plate thanks to a one-two-three combo-punch of inconsistency, insufficient material, and a horrible backdrop. First off, the feature's main problem lies in the fact that the filmmakers can't decide what direction to pull this movie toward the emotional melodrama or the slap-stick comedy. The fact that a good amount of material isn't all that funny is bad enough, but to have the audience confused as to where the film is pulling them is even worse. Secondly, let's give credit where credit is due Bernie Mac should have no trouble dealing with the transition from venerable side-kick to illustrious leading man, given that he chooses his scripts properly, but no matter how. Had this been an R-rated movie then Mac would have had more room to roam and given his fans what they expect. Granted the language in this film is probably excessive for what is usually allowed, it isn't anywhere near what would normally come from Mac's routines and often the audience finds him holding back, which isn't what they paid for. And lastly, from the viewpoint of a sports fan, no amount of glitz and glamour can make the Milwaukee Brewers look anything close to an inspirational baseball team. Even for those unfamiliar with the area of sports, if you lived in the state of Wisconsin you would be well familiar with state of affairs of the losing sports team. It may be nice to dream but do it with some other team and not the Brewers because once you enter that stadium, dreams are crushed. It's harsh but it's the truth, and those coming from the state of Wisconsin would know it all too well. In the end, Mr. 3000 is a good start off vehicle for Bernie Mac to learn from his mistakes and become a more prosperous leading man. As for the audience, the lesson of the day is not to be misled by advertisements, as the phrase 'what you see is what you get' is not the case with this film.