You Gotta Believe (#596)


I saw another one of those based-on-a-true-story, overcoming-all-odds films, and it was exactly like all the others in this genre, except for one thing—a very sad segment in which one of the lead characters is diagnosed with a virulent tumor in his brain.  YOU GOTTA BELIEVE is the story of a team of little league baseball players in a small town in Texas.  They are coached by two good friends, both of whom have sons on their team.  Naturally, all the kids are terrible players, but they end up on the team that their town is obligated to send to compete in the Little League World Series extravaganza.  And naturally, as in the case of all the similar movies we have seen, they become very good players and make it all the way to the final game that determines the world championship.  The only actor I recognized was Greg Kinnear, one of the coaches who is a lawyer and who has a terrible boss.  It's a little too saccharine and sad for my taste, but it is a true story and nothing could be done about that, not even in Hollywood, and events were so predictable, everyone in the audience knew what was going to happen before it did happen.  70% of critics gave it a thumbs up, and 94% of audiences praised it because they like a good cry once in a while.

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