Aging baseball scout Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) struggles to keep his job. He's losing his eyesight to age, while a hotshot newbie (Matthew Lillard) aims for his job. Gus meets his estranged daughter Mickey (Amy Adams), a high-powered lawyer resentful that Gus abandoned her at an early age. Gus takes Mickey to North Carolina to scout a pitching prospect. There they meet Johnny Flanagan (Justin Timberlake), a washed-up player-turned-scout who idolizes Gus and soon falls for Mickey.
One word review? Anodyne. Trouble With the Curve is empty, bland, pleasant but instantly forgettable. Writer Randy Brown seems content mining cliches of romance (skinny dipping, realy?) and family drama (the requisite tombstone monologue), without providing insight or originality. There's no plot, with the character relationships too rote to be compelling. The meatiest thing on offer is some swats at Moneyball, with Gus ranting about those damned kids and their computers ruining baseball! It says a lot that the film's most compelling material is bar stool bitching less informed than your average Around the Horn installment.
Any mileage Trouble gets comes from the stars. Clint Eastwood again has fun sending up his tough guy image, something he's been doing consistently for 40 years. On the one hand it's old by now, but who can second guess Clint? Amy Adams is endearing as always, with Justin Timberlake conveying off-hand charm as her love interest. John Goodman, Robert Patrick, Bob Gunton and Matthew Lillard provide solid bench support. Everyone's likeable, just not interesting.
Trouble With the Curve scarcely seems worth the trouble of watching, let alone reviewing. It's not a bad movie; it's too vanilla to register at all. One watches it on a lazy Sunday afternoon and forgets it instantly. I know I did.
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