Calvin Marshall

R

2009

1 hr. 33 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

60%

10 Reviews

Tomatometer

42%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

A college student dreams of playing baseball but finds his true calling instead.

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Audience Member

A solid indie film with good performances and pacing, and Steven Zahn earning the screen time he got even as a supporting character (more like 2nd lead). It's a pleasant homage to baseball as played at the lowest level of competitive competency because ... what else is there to do anyway? The lightly thematic elements pay off the emotional investment in the characters without rubbing it all in our faces. If one needs an analogy, think of this film as keeping a scorecard as you watch the game in the stadium for no other reason than the love of the game and a reminder in later years that you were there.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

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Audience Member

Lundgren's screenplay beautifully juggles the story's alternately comic and poignant elements and renders all three main characters with surprising depth. I say RENT IT!!!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

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Audience Member

The most perfect game in the world...

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

I put this movie off for a long time, because it was supposed to suck. Well, it didn't. Not at all. This was a rather enjoyable, rather well done little movie. Alex Frost (Calvin) reminded me ALOT of a young John Cusack. Nice movie...

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Audience Member

This one really surprised me. Within the first few minutes, I came pretty close to stopping it and picking a different one from Netflix. Calvin was a great character to root for, as he stubbornly keeps trying to make the college baseball team. Having no real athletic skills, he quickly becomes the laughing stock of his peers. The story really develops the three main characters: Calvin, Calvin's coach Doug, and Tori, who plays Calvin's volley-ball-playing romantic interest. The coach really reminded me a lot of my freshman baseball coach, Coach Alvarado. And the chemistry between Calvin and Tori seemed very raw and authentic. I don't think she was smoking hot, but that's exactly how the girls seemed in high school or college. A great movie, which smoothly juggles the baseball, coming-of-age, and romance elements all in one.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

Steve Zahn is really the best and funniest thing about this movie. Not used to seeing him in roles like this, but he's pretty likeable in whatever he does. Alex Frost isn't very charismatic. I've seen him in another movie ("A Vicious Mind") playing a pretty similar role. Frost is the title character, Calvin, who dreams of playing in the MLB but can't even make the cut on a junior college squad. His crabby, cussing coach, Coach Little, has pity on him and keeps him around as a morale-booster/mascot. Calvin, while sweet to Tori, just isn't very sympathetic. Most of the time when he's with her I notice he talks mostly about himself and kind of brags. He lies, he's deluded about his own abilities. Yeah, I just don't feel much for him as a lead character. But I do like the theme of the story. Calvin tries and tries to make his dream come true but he's simply not good enough for a MLB career. However there are smaller instances in his life (helping a little league team and playing for another team) which showcases what he's good at. It's disappointing to him that things don't work out the way he wants but he learns to roll with the punches and accept small defeats.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Gary Lundgren

Director

Alex Frost

Calvin Marshall

Jeremy Sumpter

Caselli

Michelle Lombardo

Tori Jensen

Steve Zahn

Coach Little

Jane Adams

June Marshall

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Kyle Smith

New York Post

Good-natured but not overly sentimental, Calvin Marshall makes its formula work with thoroughly realized characters and unforced comic moments about the irrepressible charms of the obliviously self-deluded.

Jun 18, 2019

Full Review

Adam Keleman

Slant Magazine

Director Gary Lundgren's Calvin Marshall eventually falls flat in its heavy-handed efforts to score an emotional homerun.

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 30, 2010

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Mike Hale

New York Times

Most baseball movies are about dreams; Calvin Marshall is a sentimental comedy about self-delusion, and the young actor Alex Frost can't find a way to make sense of Calvin, or to make him sympathetic.

Rated: 2.5/5

Aug 20, 2010

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Stan Hall

Oregonian

A baseball movie suffused with authentic patter and love for the game equal to that harbored by its titular character.

Rated: B

Aug 26, 2010

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Avi Offer

NYC Movie Guru

A grand-slam comic drama that's heartwarming, funny, inspirational and, above all, triumphant.

Rated: 8.75/10

Aug 20, 2010

Full Review

Prairie Miller

NewsBlaze

A rare and invigorating spotlight on the back to basics collective spirit among salt of the earth workingclass enthusiasts of any game played among them, simply for the love of sports beyond money and fame. And just the way it was always meant to be.

Aug 16, 2010

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Synopsis

A college student dreams of playing baseball but finds his true calling instead.

Director: Gary Lundgren
Executive Producer: Mark Cunningham
Screenwriter: Gary Lundgren
Production Co: Broken Sky Films
Rating: R (Brief Sexuality|Language)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 25, 2017

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