That "baseball card" movie starring Matthew Broderick

[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.