The Sandlot

Ever since Stand by Me, it seems that every Boy's Own yarn is deemed incomplete without a nostalgic, pseudo-ironic voice-over waxing lyrical about the mythology of short pants and acne. There was too much of this baloney in director Evans' spec script for Radio Flyer, but he obviously hasn't got it out of his system yet. His directorial debut is chock-a-block with cute reminiscence - which is a shame, because if it weren't so knowing, this would be quite a likeable little comedy about nothing in particular. A spotty crew of dead-end kids throw a baseball around. The new kid in town, Scotty Smalls (Guiry), is accepted simply as a gofer, but the gang's leader, Rodriguez (Vitar), takes him under his wing. The boys are quirkily characterised and spiky dialogue mercifully keeps the sporting ardour in check, but the pumped-up climax ('the biggest pickle any of us had ever seen,' we're assured three times) turns out to be the biggest botch.