What is it with Americans and baseball movies? From "The Natural" and "Bull Durham" to "Field of Dreams" and "For Love of the Game", baseball has always been Hollywood's favourite feelgood sport.
There's just something about a wooden bat, a ball, and a diamond-shaped field that seems to make Tinseltown's scriptwriters come over all mushy and misty-eyed.
In "The Rookie", Dennis Quaid stars as over-the-hill high school coach Jimmy Morris, who suddenly realizes that he's throwing faster than any of his students.
Pitching at an eye-popping 98mph, Jimmy's good enough to get a second chance at the major league. Even though most of his teammates are young enough to be his children....
With a couple of cute looking kids, a sentimental storyline (based on a true incident), and that inevitable Big Game climax, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was nothing more than pure schmaltz.
And you'd be right. But it's well-played schmaltz, with Quaid doing his likeable leading-man role, aided by excellent performances from Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) as his wife and Brian Cox as his cantankerous old dad.
Quite who the movie's supposed to be aimed at - kids or adults - is a question that no one seems to know the answer to, though.
It's too long-winded and talky for the little 'uns, too obviously safe and Disney-esque to be a serious drama.
It's certainly not a cinematic home run, but director John Lee Hancock and writer Mike Rich ("Finding Forrester") lay on so many heart-warming moments, it's hard to resist the movie's whimsical charm.
After all, the best thing about sports movies is that you're always following the winning side.
The Rookie (2002)
