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Reviews

The Final Season

Unintentional sports comedy

By BRETT MICHEL | October 17, 2007

1.5 Stars

THE FINAL SEASON: Not a homerun.

Sean Astin’s latest starring role finds him aiming to hit the emotional high he achieved in 1993’s Rudy, but David M. Evans’s latest crack at America’s favorite pastime (he previously directed The Sandlot, another ’93 film) is less inspirational sports drama and more unintentional comedy. “Norway is baseball,” one character observes, but this bucolic Iowa town (population: 506) faces losing its championship team –– and thus its identity –– through a high-school consolidation. Kent, the coach played by Astin, likens himself to “Clark,” and his earnestness pervades the film, but not nearly as much as the corn. There’s enough here to empty a whole field of dreams.

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