The Final Season

STARRING: Sean Astin, Powers Boothe View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 10/12/2007 DATE SCREENED: 9/27/2007 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

Sean Astin acts as the Executive Producer and Star of The Final Season. The film centers around the true story of Kent Stock, who gave up his job and wedding plans to take over as head coach of the Norway High School baseball team. The film was actually shot in Norway, Iowa, a small town of maybe 600 people who believe in the saying that “on the 8th day, God created baseball”. The high school baseball team was their pride and joy, winning 19 state titles.

Kent is an admirer of the school’s legendary coach Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe). He originally had to take a job as his assistant, just to be able to learn from his idol. After another championship season, the state has decided that the school is too small and must merge with a nearby high school. The neighboring school doesn’t put any importance on baseball, and with the student’s lengthy commutes back and forth every day, the town knows that the baseball team as they know it, along with their local economy that revolves around it, is about to come to an end. Jim is fired as coach due to his protests, and Kent is hired to take over for one final season before the merger.

Kent is an inexperienced coach, so the town does not have any hopes for another successful season. The stands are empty at the first practice, when they were always full in past years. Many of the kids have quit the team. Luckily, a troubled teen named Mitch (seemingly based on Kelly Leak from the Bad News Bears) had just moved to Norway to stay with his grandparents. He has been causing trouble at school, but maybe joining the baseball team is just what he needs to straighten him out.

The returning players have no respect for Kent, or the new kid Mitch. As the team goes through the ups and downs of the season, the coaches and players have a chance to bond, and before you know it the stands are full again for another Norway playoff run.

Does any of this sound familiar? This is nothing we haven’t seen countless times before. Is there anyone who doesn’t know how this movie is going to end? Would anybody care that they threw in a romance between Kent and a woman sent by the state to work on the merger? Sean Astin may have had fun gaining weight and hanging out in a small town playing baseball, but it was not fun for me or the audience at the screening. I think only one person clapped when the film reached its inevitable climax. I couldn’t have cared any less about the “big game”. When a “feel good” sports movie is done well, you can’t help but get involved in rooting for a person or a team, even when you know the ending. When this type of movie is done poorly, you keep looking at your watch hoping the film is about to come to an end. The Final Season falls into the “poorly done” category. If you like baseball you might get some enjoyment out of the film, but wait for cable.