For Love of the Game

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For Love of the Game

PG-13

Released Sep 17, 1999

2h 17m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

47%

Tomatometer

96 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Forty-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is practically a dinosaur by professional baseball standards, fast approaching the end of his career. But, as Chapel stands on the mound pitching the game of his life, his thoughts don't turn to his prized history in sports, but rather return again and again to his tumultuous relationship with Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston), a single mom who has stood at his side through the good and the bad but is now on the verge of leaving him.

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Critics Consensus

Baseball wins, romance loses.

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Michael Sragow

The New Yorker

For Love of the Game asks whether the same qualities that make an athlete a champion don't also destroy his happiness. The answer, unfortunately, is long-winded and redundant... But some of the baseball scenes are good.

May 8, 2014

Full Review

Michael Wilmington

Chicago Tribune

This is no perfect -- or even half-perfect -- game. It's another movie where conventions are subbed for life lessons, where the emotions are cued by golden oldies and where the motivation (at least on the studio's part) isn't love of the game but money.

Rated: 2/4

May 8, 2014

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Stephen Hunter

Washington Post

Here are two things that definitely don't go together: baseball and piano music.

May 8, 2014

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Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

It might not be Kevin Costner's best baseball movie but For Love of the Game is still a solid baseball film after 25 years.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 17, 2024

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Chuck Klosterman

Akron Beacon Journal

It's kind of like watching an actual baseball game: deliberate and slow, but occasionally perfect.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 27, 2023

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Mark Jackson

Epoch Times

"Bull Durham" is a more powerful movie than "For Love of the Game," so Kevin Costner might be better as a savvy minor league catcher than a hall-of-fame major league pitcher, but the fact is, Costner is simply and utterly baseballic. He's baseballerific.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 10, 2020

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Shawn E

Guy wants you to believe he would really be able to pitch in the majors and bag the massage girl etc, corny corny. Guess he didn’t get that baseball player thing out of himself. Every corny cliche. Manager is annoying got that ridiculous thing across his lips . Even his last name church gets on my nerves. Looks like a fake baseball player in a clown suit “on the mound” . Bad movie

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/13/25

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kyle b

Kevin Costner is a natural in this role of course and presents a real human feel to the character. Nails the baseball role, as no surprise, and presley is excellent as well on the relationship end bringing it all together as an experience.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/03/25

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Robert B

Excellent film, expertly done. The juxtaposition between memories and reality was fascinating and the divide between critic's reviews and the public's is evidence of bias. A great movie that Costner should be proud of.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/24/25

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Caleb C

Throughout all of my childhood I played baseball and quit after graduating high school. But I still reflect back on my time wishing I could live it all again. This movie really shows what it’s like to have passion for the game and when the sad reality hits that it’s time to hang it up.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/29/24

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Aaron B

So... Sam Raimi... directed a chick flick... about... baseball? The sports parts were good. The dialogue was awful. So slow and wooden. Just watch The Natural on one screen and The Notebook on another.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/13/24

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Brian H

Kevin Costner is arguably THE actor to play baseball players. In this he is a lock for Cooperstown pitcher at the end of his career and looking back on all of his life on and off the field. The love story buried in it pulls at the strings. The question gets pushed out there if what it takes to be the absolute best in sports also makes it really hard to be with. JK Simmons and John C Reilly are absolutely wonderful in small supporting parts. Loved the use of the game commentators to give even more insight into baseball and life.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/12/24

Full Review

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Sam Raimi

Director

Kevin Costner

Billy Chapel

Kelly Preston

Jane Aubrey

John C. Reilly

Gus Sinski

Jena Malone

Heather Aubrey

Brian Cox

Gary Wheeler

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Synopsis

Forty-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is practically a dinosaur by professional baseball standards, fast approaching the end of his career. But, as Chapel stands on the mound pitching the game of his life, his thoughts don't turn to his prized history in sports, but rather return again and again to his tumultuous relationship with Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston), a single mom who has stood at his side through the good and the bad but is now on the verge of leaving him.

Director: Sam Raimi
Producer: Amy Robinson, Armyan Bernstein
Screenwriter: Michael Shaara, Dana Stevens
Distributor: MCA/Universal Pictures [us], Universal Pictures, Universal Home Entertainment
Production Co: Beacon Communications, Universal Pictures, Tig Productions, Mirage Enterprises
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 17, 1999, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $35.2M
Runtime: 2h 17m
Sound Mix: Surround

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