CS Weekly Archive> DVD > 06/01/07

Getting Walked to First

by peter clines

Keith Mitchell & Allie Dvorin

Based on characters created by David Mickey Evans & Robert Gunter

Egotistical ballplayer Tommy “Santa” Santorelli (Luke Perry, apparently working off some community service) gets smacked in the head with a fastball and wakes up as a young boy (Keanu Pires) in 1976.  Now he’s got a second chance to learn the real value of baseball.  Oh, and maybe something about friendship, too.  This straight-to-DVD sequel desperately wants to be a baseball-themed cross between Back to the Future and The Goonies, and all the elements are there, but it’s crippled by horrible execution, a complete lack of consistency, and clumsy attempts to borrow from other movies.  Screenwriters Keith Mitchell and Allie Dvorin can’t figure out if The Sandlot 3: Heading Home is a slapstick comedy, a goofy kids movie, or a feel-good family film.  Young Tommy is in constant flux between being in deep denial of his situation and completely oblivious to it.  Whenever the story hits a dead spot, they fall back on a montage…which means it has a lot of montages.  It’s always sad to see something come up to bat that could’ve hit the bleachers, but instead is fine with just a bunt.

The Sandlot 3: Heading Home

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Rated PG; 96 min.

$26.98

Buy it now

Peter Clines has had a lifelong love affair with the movies. He grew up in New England, where he studied English literature and education, and now lives and writes somewhere in Southern California. If anyone knows exactly where, he would appreciate a few hints.

The Sandlot 3: Heading Home courtesy Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

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