The Yankles

This good-natured but painfully earnest feelgood fist-pumper takes the creaky old sports movie outline – team of outsiders led by disgraced former alcholic coach fight their way to the playoffs – and gives it a Hasidic twist. The Yankles are a college baseball team from a prestigious California rabbi school whose decision to hire jailbird Major League washout Charlie Jones leads to inevitable redemption for all. The budget is low, the acting amateurish and the constant carping on about how rewarding religion can be will test the patience of any secular viewer, but the general air of good humour (and an appearance by Ralph Malph himself, Donny Most) ensures a certain watchability.