A League of Their Own... Lives UP!... barely.

 

This movie has some major flaws.

Jess and Amanda reviewed A League of Their Own and had difficulty saying that it lives up. It is a better baseball movie than Major League (which we said lives up), but a worse movie than we remembered. 

A League of Their Own has two problems that we had erased from our memories. If you haven't watched this in a while, allow us to remind you so that you have appropriate expectations for this film.

Problem #1

First, this movie has an awful protagonist, Dottie (played by Geena Davis). A film can have a reluctant hero who refuses the call... that's pretty standard... but Dottie flat out does not want to be a part of this historic woman's baseball league. She doesn't care about it at all. She just wants her husband to come home so they can go back to the farm and have lots of sex.  

Dottie doesn't really face any challenges in this film. She's effortlessly talented so she doesn't have to overcome anything. She's not daunted by fame. She never gets injured.  That "It just got too hard" discussion she has with Jimmy is the most unearned line in the whole film. Dottie doesn't grow or learn any lessons by the end. 

A League of Their Own wants to be an inspiring sports movie, but it has an unenthusiastic Trad Wife as the main character. Dottie is not a heroine. This movie should have been about her sister, Kit.  

Problem #2

Second, A League of Their Own ends on the wrong note. It attempts to memorialize the historic nature of the women's baseball league with the joylessness of a mass funeral. 

The film has flashed us forward fifty years to a Hall of Fame ceremony where we learn that many of our favorite characters are now dead. Older Dottie still doesn't want to be there. They play Madonna's "This Used To Be My Playground" over the credits along with black and white photos of the actors playing baseball -- have you listened to that song recently? It sounds like a dirge. 

This ending is so depressing that Steven Spielberg asked Penny Marshall if he could recreate something similar for Schindler's List. 

They say that people judge a film based on the high point, and the ending. A League of Their Own has plenty of high points, but this ending made us feel miserable. 

Overall, A League of Their Own remains one of the all time best baseball movies... but it's not as good as we remembered. 

Listen to all of our thoughts on A League of there own here, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcasting platform.