Audience Member
I enjoyed how the story revolved around baseball great Roberto Clemente, but, I didn't enjoy the overall story probably because I thought the older brother was insensitive to his younger brother who was dying.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A great movie about brotherhood and baseball history. A strong road trip movie for the whole family.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Often times sports can bring out the best and the worst in people, but the majority of those stories take place on the field of play. Everything that happens is centered around the game, and rightfully so, that's where the cameras are focused, but once in a while, a story comes along that takes the focus off the field, Chasing 3000 is one such story. In the summer of 1972, Roberto Clemente is 6 hits away from reaching 3000 hits, but brothers Mickey and Roger are stuck in Southern California. Roger's (Rory Culkin) muscular dystrophy has forced the family to relocate, leaving the boys 3000 miles away from their favorite baseball player, but Mickey (Trevor Morgan) has no intention of it preventing him from witnessing history. One weekend when their mother goes away on business, the boys decide to steal her car and make the journey back home, to Pittsburgh. Despite this being a true story, with the cast they have, I feared that this movie would be some lame farce, but it surprised me by being genuine and heartwarming. The truth is that Mickey seemed to always resent his brother, until they went on the trip, and he realized just how a like they really are. Trevor Morgan stars and while I usually don't like the roles he chooses, but he is a very solid young lead. Morgan was good, but it's Rory Culkin who steals the show, playing the hopelessly ill younger brother, who at heart is every bit the wild teenager that his brother is. Along the way, the boys meet a whole cast of unusual characters portrayed in cameos by some people you'd never expect to see in an independent film. As I've said a million times, depth of cast always helps a film along, especially an independent drama. A lot of people will be turned off by the fact that this film centers around a historic sports achievement, but this is by no means a film about sports, and should appeal to large audiences.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A real love letter to Clemente! Good movie, with both actors really playing brothers well! Lots of good period music! A little drawn out, as the boys go from L.A. to "The Burg" to see Clemente's 3000 hit. And Ray Liotta's voice over reminded me a bit too much of "Good Fellas", though the writing was more like the quality of the voice over in "The Sandlot" (not a complement!). And another Culkin in a wheelchair seems weird. But the movie jerked a few tears outta me, and what's not to love about Liotta's laugh? As I type this, I find myself wanting a '72 Pirates cap! Sigh...
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A brotherly love tale substantially weightier than its baseball road-trip premise might indicate.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I've seen better baseball movies. I've seen better road trip movies. But this was not bad. Any time I can take something away, I'm always pleased. In this case, the movie kind of leads you to believe Clemente got his 3,000th hit in his final game before dying in the off-season. That's not true. It was the final regular-season game, but he went on to add four more hits in the post-season.
Not a bad story. Two brothers grow up in Pittsburgh and are big baseball kids. The younger, played by Culkin, has some health problems. Their dad leaves them, so they move to California. As things go downhill out there, and Clemente approaches the 3,000 hit mark, the older boy decides to take his mom's car back to Pittsburgh. Culkin decides to come along. Naturally, the road is filled with conflict as all road movie must to fill themselves out.
If I'm not a baseball fan, maybe I don't get into it. The boys do a decent job of acting. The mother, played by Lauren Holly, is quite awful in just about every scene. How she got so bad, I just don't know. But it's a decent enough story, based on true events, and learning a little more about Clemente is good. Evidently, he was quite a guy, and died young because of it.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/29/23
Full Review
Read all reviews
>
