1 The title says it all!
The working title for this film was "Tokyo Diamond". Tom Selleck,late of TV's "Magnum PI",is an American baseball player who is transferred to a Japanese team after the American team officials believe that Jack(Selleck) is unsatisfactorily playing. In Japan,he meets beautiful Hiroko and falls in love with her. Hiroko ends up joining Jack in going back to the United States. Hiroko's father owns the Japanese team that Jack plays for. This is somewhat like the real-life union of Yoko Ono and the late John Lennon. After success in Japan,Jack is welcomed back to his American team. Dennis Haysbert had a supporting role in this film,probably in part because he appeared in the 1989 Paramount film MAJOR LEAGUE. All-American Jack couldn't quite adjust to the customs of the Japanese. Great film!
2 Fun
This is a fun, off-beat movie about a gaijin (foreign) baseball 'has-been' hired to play for the Chunichi Dragons when no one wants to sign him in the US. The hot-dogging American begrudgingly flies to Japan and is almost instantly overwhelmed by a completely different culture which does not value hot dogs (at least not the human kind). Cultures clash as he slowly realizes that baseball is a team sport!
This is a thoroughly enjoyable movie, not only from the perspective of baseball, but from the culture-shock element. Of course the Japanese are somewhat stereotypical, as is Selleck's American superstar, but that's why this is a movie and not a documentary.
Interestingly, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation has quite a few similar elements in it, including the insomnia and late-night television watching, as well as the bewildering experience of trying to understand Japanese ads! Selleck, like Murray, is made to perform in an ad, although Murray's "rat pack" imitation is far more suave than Selleck dressed as a sumo wrestler.
A fun watch!
3 WOW!!!!!!
at first i was skeptical about tom sellick coming out of the role of magnum "from magnum pi" but once i started watching mr baseball, wow the way it brings japanese and american culture togather has not been seen since the karate kid 2. one of the most heartwarming scenes is when he goes to his girlfriends fathers house and his girlfriends father is his manager that he did not get along with.they have a discussion about baseball and life that will stick with you for the remander of your days. this is the most epic film in the history of modern cinima.with his performance in mr baseball tom selleck has catapulted his name into the list of greatest actors. now when you think pacino, brando, bogart you have to also put sellick in that list if not at the top. to say mr baseball changed my life would be an understatment. mr baseball changed the world.
4 Worlds collide, no one leaves unchanged
Tom Selleck plays Jack Elliot in this funny and insightful comedy about an American baseball player 'demoted' to the Japanese league. It has all the cultural in-jokes that you'd expect including "Taking a bath before washing", "Wearing shoes indoors", and "You say one thing, the translator will make it sound nice".
But at the heart of the movie, the story is all about accepting foreign culture. Jack butts heads with Japanese culture. He is loose, relaxed, and immature. The Japanese are tight, uptight, and very serious. As long as everyone sees him as an outsider, they will respect him in public but doubt him in private, and he will never truly fit in.
After a series of humiliating losses, he finally reaches the point where he realizes that his strength and skill are not enough to defeat his problems and he turns to the coach and Japanese culture to help him overcome his ego. The coach admonishes him to stop feeding off of his past successes lest he eat all those successes away, look only to the future in other words. He does so and the rest of the movie shows Elliot becoming stronger in the stadium and spiritual world. By embracing the Japanese Way, he becomes a better person.
However, the flip side to this movie is that the Japanese Way has led to a failing baseball team. Despite the coach's best efforts to harangue the players into playing well, they are too gunshy to play their best. It isn't until the coach accepts that the softer method of coaching based on encouraging the players and fostering a team spirit that the team's slump ends. Jack Elliot made his own mark on the team by bringing trademark American-style attitude to the team.
In the end the message is clear. At the micro-level, the Japanese style of living with its emphasis on detail, cooperation, and austerity is beneficial, and the American style emphasizing laziness, freedom, and individuality is detrimental. At the macro-level, though, the message is quite the opposite. Success is brought by each individual's freedom to make mistakes, being relaxed, and not having an oppressive culture looming above.
It's a fun movie with a lot of insight into the Japanese culture as well as insight into American culture. Well worth renting at least once.
5 from Aizu high school
This movie is very interesting.Of course the culture or tradition of Japan is exaggerated and described as very stereotypical (it is all the more fun to us), but it more clearly tell the Japanese many faults we have to change.That is we Japanese have to be independent, or had better have a fun in playing.And not only the Japanese but also the American will learn the good aside of the way of opposide country, accepting or uniting.Whether you are Japanese or American, this movie median between us will cause good effect to you.You'll laugh and learn because there are extreme different cultures.
6 from Aizu high school
This movie is very interesting.Of course the culture or tradition of Japan is exaggerated and described as very
stereotypical (it is all the more fun to us), but it more clearly tell the Japanese many faults we have to change.That is we Japanese have to be independent, or had better have a fun in playing.And not only the Japanese but also the American will learn the good aside of the way of opposide country, accepting or uniting.Whether you are Japanese or American, this movie median between us will cause good effect to you.You'll laugh and learn because there are extreme different cultures.
7 from Aizu high school
This movie is very interesting.Of course the culture or tradition of Japan is exaggerated and described as very stereotypical (it is all the more fun to us), but it more clearly tell the Japanese many faults we have to change.That is we Japanese have to be independent, or had better have a fun in playing.And not only the Japanese but also the American will learn the good aside of the way of opposide country, accepting or uniting.Whether you are Japanese or American, this movie median between us will case good effect to you.You'll laugh and learn because there are extreme different cultures.
8 mr baseball
This movie is very interesting.Of course the culture or tradition of Japan is exaggerated and described as very stereotypical (it is all the more fun to us), but it more clearly tell the Japanese many faults we have to change.That is we Japanese have to be independent, or had better have a fun in playing.And not only the Japanese but also the American will learn the good aside of the way of opposide country, accepting or uniting.Whether you are Japanese or American, this movie median between us will case good effect to you.You'll laugh and learn because there are extreme different cultures.
9 Captures Japanese life and Baseball incredibly accurately!
For one thing, this movie pivoted on the theme of baseball is a world better than the Madonna/Davis starring "A league of their own" or the more recent travesties like "A field of dreams". For another, the schism between American and Japanese ideologies/way of life is just so truly captured that it is difficult to believe this movie is not the de-facto recommendation for people interested in Japan. Guess it missed out on the major league scene because, well, quite literally it is not about US major leagues?
A US baseball star (Selleck) is traded to a Japanese baseball team and finds himself at intellectual loggerheads with the extant coach of the team. This, plus a slight romantic sub-plot as he falls in love with the coach's daughter.
Barring some minor cheesy moments -- e.g., when the coach takes Selleck to a golf driving range and makes him hit the balls with a baseball bat, only to hear "I want to hit balls" instead of "I want to hit baseballs"...hmm -- the accuracy of Japanese life is truly stunning. Including, eating ramen with vociferous slurps, digging chopsticks vertically in rice bowls being a no-no, the language used to communicate between the American/Japanese, even a scene with a real on-sen. A refreshing break after stereotype galore seen in movies of that time, including the entertaining "Black Rain" or the absolutely goofball "Rising Sun".
To cut to the chase, this is an under-rated gem of a movie, very well shot, some messages about life and profession as seen from two very different perspectives that are likely to resonate with either side. Selleck takes the cake with his acting, baring his tush (literally, I may add) to portray a grouchy American, snubbing people relentlessly and throwing tantrums in public, then letting us inside this character to understand his views. Takakura Ken, needless to say, is fascinating as usual.
A must watch if you are interested in Japan, or baseball, or a good light-hearted cross cultural take on life and sport.
10 Mr. Baseball...Mr Lameball!!
Tom Selleck modestly claims that he has no big screen presence and proves it again in this film. MR BASEBALL is not only a bad baseball movie, its a bad movie all together. When this film was finally released on video after it's VERY SHORT theatrical release in 1992, at the video store that I frequented, it ended up on the shelf that stated "RENT FOR FREE - IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS VIDEO, YOU DON'T PAY THE RENTAL FEES!" The story of an aging baseball veteran going to finish off his career playing in the Japanese big leagues should have been a great movie. However, again, as in all movies involving asians, the Japanese are given the cartoony stereotypical treatment along with the lame love story involving the attractive asian girl (And surprise!! She happens to be the Japanese Manager's daughter!) with the foriegn caucasian newcomer. Why do they always do that? There is an underlining message of the differences of Japanese and American baseball. In Japanese baseball, the whole team is more important than the individual accolades. Well, there was too much of it in this film (I learned more about that in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, than in this movie). Then, also trying to teach Selleck's character (Jack Elliot) about respect to everything Japanese wore thin as the movie progressed. At the same time he's teaching the team about being Americanized and that was lame also. The film is very boring, the direction and cinematography did not do Japan justice, the characters are predictable, the love story is a death scene short of the film SAYONARA, and the baseball action is generic and not very exciting. Overall, not a very good tribute to the American Pastime, but more of an insult to the Japanese pastime. If you want to learn more about Japanese baseball, read YOU GOTTA HAVE WA by Robert Whiting. It's more entertaining than this drivel. And anyway...Bob Uecker is the real Mr. Baseball. Note:Look for Dennis Haysbert as Max "Hammer" Dubois in the film. He played the hilarious Pedro Cerrano(the voodoo practicing baseball player) in the superior baseball comedy film MAJOR LEAGUE.
11 Huh? this is a movie?
Don't buy this movie I got it as a gift, should have returned it!
12 Heartwarming drama hiding behind a light sports comedy
MR. BASEBALL is a film of paradoxes. Written and filmed as a "light, sports comedy" it truly has a heartwarming core as human and universal as some of Capra's finest. At the plot level, you have the paradox of baseball, a fine old American game, as it is played in Japan - turned around, with American values cast off and Japanese values imprinted upon the game. (Some of the superficial "sports comedy" results from Jack's uncomprehending disbelief at how "basa-boru" is played in Japan.) You also have a lead character who's presented as an over-the-hill, aging baseball star, but who is actually quite immature - pro ball allowed him to postpone growing up. And you have a lead character who is rudely resistant to the changes in his life that are being forced upon him, refusing to accept the curveball that life has given him, in the midst of a new country, a new manager, a new team, and a new girlfriend, who have all welcomed him and try to accept him. Sound like heavy stuff? Not really. It's a charming "clash of cultures" comedy that takes place on the national, sports, romantic, and professional levels. But if you watch it sensitively enough, you will also find a great story about a man who has to abandon his immaturity and grow up way too late in life (causing some amount of personal pain), and finds success in places he never expected it. I love the story, but I also have great respect for Selleck's performance; he bares his tush (literally) to portray an ugly American, insulting people and throwing tantrums in public, then lets us inside this character to understand his dismay. It also doesn't hurt if you're a big fan of Takakura Ken like I am. MR. BASEBALL is a surprising "loss of innocence" tale.
13 Solid Movie
Mr. Baseball is a good movie, although a bit unusual. It's not really a comedy and it's not really a drama. Picture those two worlds joined together and you have Mr. Baseball. This is the story of an old ballplayer who is a few years past his prime and gets sent away to Japan to play baseball. What ensues is fish out of water comedy as Tom Selleck's character gets used to Japan and simultaneously a love interest develops providing the drama. This movie is along the lines of a For Love of The Game, but funnier and not quite as heartwarming.
14 Perhaps the most underrated baseball movie ever
I've watched a number of baseball movies over the years, and "Mr. Baseball" is among the best of them all and probably the most underrated. Anyone who's studied Japanese baseball will recognize the accuracy in which the game there is portrayed, as well as the culture shock most American players go through (and often never get over). Tom Selleck is a great choice for the role of Jack Elliott, an ex-Yankee sold to the Chunichi Dragons, much to his dismay. Dennis Haysbert is solid in a supporting role as a fellow American player on the Dragons who tries to help Jack adjust, and Aya Takanashi is gorgeous and classy as Jack's love interest. This video is absolutely worth buying, since you really don't have to be a fan of the game to enjoy it. I rate "Mr. Baseball" in the same class as "Bull Durham" and "A League of Their Own" and much better than either of the "Major League" movies, "Angels In The Outfield," or any of the other more recent baseball flicks.
15 Mr. Baseball? More Like Mr. Boring!
Mr. Baseball starring Tom Selleck is one of the most boring and bland films I've ever had the displeasure of watching. The story is basically about an older baseball player (Selleck) who is getting stale and unfit to play for his American Baseball team. Because of this, his team trades him over seas to a Japanese baseball team. Most of the humor from this often humorless flick, comes from Selleck's goofiness in trying to understand and comprehend Japanese traditions and ways of life. Somewhere in there, they toss in a love story between Selleck and a young Japanese woman. I couldn't really recall because I was falling asleep due to boredom. As with most baseball movies of this kind, it follows a very simple formula of slapstick comedy and ridiculous acting. I doubt I could stand another sitting of this movie and it has little to no replay value whatsoever. Booooo!
16 TOM SELLECK'S NICE AND HAIRY
Tom Selleck would seem to a good choice to play the big, strapping major-league star who's sent to play baseball in Japan, land of short people. But while Selleck's physique works, his personality does not. The story is supposed to be about an arrogant "jock" who gradually learns the values of teamwork and humility while stuggling in a foreign environment, but Selleck comes across as such a nice guy, (even in the early scenes where he's meant to growl and snarl), that there's no real sense of transformation.
However, the movie doesn't take itself too seriously amd Tom has several chances to take off his shirt and thus display that hairy chest of his. (If there were a Mount Rushmore for hairy chests, Tom's would be right up there along with Sam Elliott's, Clint Walker's, and Burt Reynolds'.)
17 Not just a baseball flick
You don't have to be a baseball fan to love this movie. The comedic backwash of two completely opposite cultures clashing drives this movie and Selleck and crew work it magnificently without being demeaning to either. It is really a satisfying movie and can be enjoyed by all ages. Remember, you don't have to be baseball fan to love it.
18 Mr. Baseball is a HOOT!
I loved this movie! It is so funny and yet so many of the situations in Japan are similar to my own experiences. If you've never been to Japan, you will still laugh at all the right places for the right reasons. If you've been to Japan, it will be that much funnier. The scene where Tom Selleck drags his interpreter into his apartment is great because a Japanese person would NEVER wear his shoes indoors, so the scene where this poor soul is being dragged into the room by his tie and trying to kick off his shoes is classic. Watch it, you won't be disappointed!
