John Goodman, Amy Adams and Clint Eastwood in Trouble with the Curve.

Clint Eastwood’s most recent film, Trouble with the Curve, is a feel-good drama without much more to offer its audience.

While watchable and heavily focused on character development with a decently-paced plot, the film, unfortunately, only left this reviewer feeling a little nostalgic for last year’s Moneyball.

Eastwood’s character, Gus, represents the aging world of baseball scouts as they are replaced by the statistics and impersonal performance tests that Moneyball glorifies. As his eyesight deteriorates with age, his worried and slightly estranged daughter Mickey, played by Amy Adams, joins Gus to follow a potential first-round draft pick.

The biggest issue with the movie is that it seems to try to address feminist issues while at the same time implying that Mickey is special because she has qualities that are often thought of as masculine. All the other females that appear in the film are receptionists, waitresses or excited baseball groupies.

While Moneyball contemplates the advantages of new technologies used in recruiting new players, Trouble with the Curve emphasises how this approach loses touch with the basics of the game.

Eastwood’s usual grumpy performance as Gus is balanced by a likeable supporting cast, including co-star Adams as well as Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, Robert Patrick and Matthew Lillard.

Trouble with the Curve is not quite a sports movie and not quite a romance. The plot revolves around the complicated father-daughter relationship between Gus and Mickey. Mickey feels like her father abandoned her when, after her mother’s death, Gus kept his daughter at arm’s length. Their interactions, though well-acted, only skim the surface of years of hard feelings and neglect before wrapping up with an easy conclusion. In the movie’s textbook happy ending Mickey saves her relationships with her father and love interest by pulling a trick card from her sleeve that saves both of their careers.

The film’s greatest hits lie in the stressed moments between Gus and Mickey but it strikes out rounding home. Unfortunately, the film does not fully resolve the issues created in these stressed moments; Gus and Mickey never fully accept their relationship, leaving the ending of the movie feeling unpolished.

The movie has plenty of one-liners, both well-phrased and god-awful, and a well-written plot that’s not over exaggerated or underplayed, but its weaknesses are distracting.

Although the film has overt feminist overtones, illustrated in the frustrations Mickey feels as she struggles to become a partner at her law firm and dealing with misogynistic athletes and scouts, Trouble with the Curve still fails the Bechdel test.

The test was popularized by comic book writer Alison Bechdel in 1985 and assesses the presence of women in movies. The movie must have more than two female characters, these characters must have a conversation and this conversation must be about something other than a man.

Trouble with the Curve fails all three items, which feels hypocritical given the film’s tone. In fact, Mickey is the only named female in the film.

The men around her never miss an opportunity to express their shock and amazement that she knows a little bit about baseball, can shoot a mean game of pool and is also attractive. Mickey’s most notable character flaws are her intimacy issues. Her love interest, Jonny, played by Timberlake, has to take off his clothes and jump into a river before she will let him close enough to kiss her.

In response to a touchy male who grabs her arm a little too tightly at the bar, Jonny rushes to Mickey’s rescue, claims he’s her big bad brother and steals an obviously unwelcome ‘familiar’ kiss. But Jonny is a little bit more attractive than the other guy, so I guess that’s okay, right? Though initially put off by Jonny’s persistent pursuit, Mickey eventually lets down her guard and allows him to take her out on a date.

Although it’s often cheesy and slightly offensive, Trouble with the Curve isn’t a horrible movie. Don’t purchase your tickets expecting to see a Gran Turino-quality performance from Eastwood. Go to see a rare and believable on-screen father-daughter relationship.

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Photo: Supplied