For Love of the Game

From a novel by Michael Shaara, this rehashes a story that's so familiar it's beyond cliché. Costner is Billy Chapel, the Detroit Tigers' star pitcher. He is reaching the end of his career: time for reassessment. His team has been sold, and the new owners are thinking of trading the ageing star. Plus his on-off girlfriend (Preston) has called time on their relationship. Now he has to play what may well be the last game of his career. That game stretches over most of the film, but any anticipated suspense is undercut by the sepia-tinted inserts charting the couple's bumpy uninvolving five-year romance from first meeting to acrimonious split(s).