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Plot |
JB (Jon Hamm) is a sports agent, who two years ago decided to leave his high paying job so he could start his own business, but times are tough and he just lost a big client that would have squared things with him financially. Desperate to make ends meet and save his fledgling company he decides to look for the Holy Grail of untapped talent in India. It is slow going at first, yet in a few days JB is touring India in search of two individuals that can be trained into baseball players. After hundreds of trials he hopes that he has found what he was looking for in Rinku (Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh (Madhur Mittal). Once back in LA things don’t get any easier for JB. He is forced to have his newly minted baseball players ready sooner than he was ready to show them off and he must weigh the wellbeing of two young men that he promised their families to take care of over the wellbeing of his future career. |
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Character Development |
Several characters in this film go through transformations. JB becomes a warmer guy who learns to eschew fancy cars and models and be with a woman who is more down to earth. The Indian upcoming baseball players learn to live beyond their humble beginnings and become accustomed to the big city. And Amit becomes more knowledgeable about baseball and how to be a leader. Along the way they become a team who go through the thick and thin during the time they spend together. |
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Acting |
Enjoyable acting all around. It is interesting that the production team was able put together actors so believable a world away. The emotions truly looked genuine. Coupled that with the scenery this made a wonderful film that I will not soon forget. Everyone had there bit to play and Pitobash who played Amit was a real character as did the leading role of Indian baseball players that were played by Suraj Sharma and Madhur Mittal. Jon Hamm who played JB was brilliant as the brainstorming agent out to save his business and Lake Bell who played Brenda was a refreshing romantic love interest who was both tame and charming for a picture released under the Disney banner and also alluring at the same time. Bill Paxton was heartwarming as the trainer and Alan Arkin was comical as the baseball scout when he tried to be. All around it was a good cast.
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Overview |
From the trailer on I knew I was going to enjoy this film. The vistas were unbelievable. The sets weren’t digital here. This was done old school. It was a cast of practically thousands. At one point in the film flyers were given to a bunch of kids and the camera follows them running through the street handing out the flyers. You can’t fake something like that. The JB character was right there in the middle of it. In the taxi that was constantly honking its horn and on the field watching countless contestants try out to be big time pitchers. I don’t know anything really about putting a film together, but it must have been a herculean task. |
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