That "baseball card" movie starring Matthew Broderick

[GregMitch34]

In a posting this week on baseball movie, someone mentioned the little known recent flick--it played in only 4 theaters and drew $20,000 total after screening at Sundance--"Diminished Capacity." Saw it last night. Yes, it's on Netflix. And yes, pretty weak. But does feature the attempted sale of what is clearly a t206 Piedmont Wildfire Schulte "back view," though Alan Alda says his Dad got it in a Superbas cigar box.

He is suffering from what seems to be Alzheimers and wants to sell card (which is supposed to be NM-MT maybe, but ungraded) so he can stay at home instead of ending up in a facility. He goes to Chicago with Broderick to sell card (he keeps it in his pocket) at a big card show (this is a few years ago) where he meets good and bad dealers. And so on. Your move.

[brewing]

Watched this movie today. If it didn't have baseball cards in it, it would have been in the bottom 10 I've seen of all time. Seeing vintage baseball cards is always a good thing.

I can sum it up in one word: meh

[wonkaticket]

I kind of enjoyed it but I'm an Alda & Broderick fan. Also had some great music from a neat little Chicago band I like "Canasta".

[Cardboard Junkie]

I'm gonna plug this movie for the third time on net 54.
"The Kid From Cleveland" 1949 flick with Tris Speaker, Satchell Paige, Greenberg, Feller, lemon, Doby, Berardino and on and on........No cards but great footage of 48 series and speaking parts from all the stars.
It is on Utube, broke up into about 7 parts. Very very cool and under almost everybodys radar. Dave Nuff Said!

[kmac32]

Just watched diminished Capacity. Glad I didn't pay to see it since it was on Netflix but loved the Al Rosen reference at the ball card show. Typical in my opinion but funny. As a Cub fan, I can relate to many things in the movie however. LOL

[mighty bombjack]

I am a fan of these actors and (of course) of baseball cards, so I was very excited to see this. Boy, was I let down with a bad script and awful acting. I can't recommend it to anyone.

[arc2q]

I watched this movie last night based on these somewhat tepid recommendations. I'll admit it was not great...not even good really. But it is watchable. It really starts out with a lot of promise. I imagine it was sold to the actors who signed up (it really is an all-star cast with about a dozen familiar and successful cast members) as a feel-good drama dealing with a serious matter. It has that potential but clearly fails -- probably based mostly on the script.

It was a lot more about baseball cards than I imagined. It really is focused on this supposedly extraordinarily rare T206 Wildfire Schulte (sidenote, apparantely he pronounced his name "Schul-tay"). Quite a few of the scenes are at a baseball card show. But it will annoy most vintage collectors because:

a. the card we all know is not that valuable but they could have at least used an authentic prop. The card he carries around is clearly a bad fake -- doesn't even have a border and has the all too familiar fake Piedmont back

b. the card show scenes become farcical toward the end. I won't give away the ending but you will be angry at the director and the writer by the end of the movie

c. it typecasts collectors and dealers as weirdoes, obsessives, or slimy big money hotshots. Oh wait...

It is not so bad that you will stop watching it. I thought it was okay but clearly failed to live up to its promise.