Little Big League

Twelve-year-old Billy Heywood (Edwards) has a problem: what to do when super-rich Grandpa (Robards) leaves him an entire major league baseball team of his own. When faced with the impending school vacation and the prospect of handling the day-to-day running of the Minnesota Twins, his response is to rekindle among the primadonna players a sheer love of the sport, resurrect their hopes of making the play-offs, and hope that Mom (Crow) doesn't get too upset over the odd cuss-word emanating from his lips due to big game tension. Making his directorial debut after producing such improving fare as The Princess Bride and Stand by Me, Scheinman is so keen to pile on the moral precepts, that the proceedings never really take on an imaginative life of their own. The film does, however, avoid tub-thumping triumphalism and manages better than most Hollywood sports movies to integrate its roster of real-life players within the contrivances of the storyline.