Post by StevePulaski on Jul 19, 2017 20:00:13 GMT -5
Undrafted (2016)
Directed by: Joseph Mazzello
Directed by: Joseph Mazzello
The ragtag D-Backs in Undrafted.
Rating: ★★★
There's little worse in life than to be told throughout it, as a young person, that you're doing everything right only to reach a crossroads and realize that might have been true, but you weren't doing well enough. That's the mindset I feel many undrafted players, regardless of sport, possess. The fatigue, frustration, and the mental exhaustion of putting your entire life towards a certain goal only to come up short, and worse, now have your future in question because you spent all your time working towards a dream that came up short.
At one point in Joseph Mazzello's Undrafted, D-Backs pitcher "Dells" (Tyler Hoechlin) begins to slip, giving up three runs in the matter of a few minutes. "I hope you got your degree," one of the members of the opposing team yells from their bullpen. He's not wrong, and in Dells' pained, rattled look of tension, we can kind of see that he's second-guessing everything.
Undrafted revolves around what should be a meaningless summer baseball game against two intramural teams. The aforementioned D-Backs are the home-team, comprised of a bunch of undrafted free agents skipped over from the recently concluded Major League Baseball draft. The Bulldogs, the opposing team, are comprised of some of the same, but also Single and Double-A players from neighboring counties, frantically clawing as they try to preserve the marginal chance they have to "go pro."
Led by their grouchy, baritone-voiced manager Ty (Duke Davis Roberts), who is also Dells' brother, the Backs take the utterly forgettable game to heart when they hear their star-hitter "Maz" (Aaron Tveit) was passed up in the draft. Maz's sullen expressions indicate his hurt feelings, but as his father (Jim Belushi) watches what could be his son's final game unfold from the stands, Maz gets a sudden, subtle boost of energy to motivate his team to beat the cocky, boisterous Bulldogs.
As the Bulldogs recite chants and immature taunts from their dugout, the Backs remain a team of internal ballbusters, with the guys ridiculing one another and getting in people's faces all too regularly. Director Mazzello even plays Murray, the team's unstable outfielder that slings bat towards his own team's bullpen and whips a fastball at a teammate despite being within five feet of one another. During this time, Ty gets aggravated at everyone's selfish, stupid behavior, on top of Dells' pervasive tendency to give up numerous runs late in games. Teammates try to take notes from aging veteran Fotch (Philip Winchester), who gives the youngings advice while later nursing a severely injured right arm.
Present in Undrafted is a sense of hatred and contempt for baseball, something you're not always quick to see in any sports movie. At several moments in the film, you have every reason to believe these young kids have grown to despise the very game that built them up to crush their dreams. You get the same feeling in regards to their relationship with one another, which always seems on-edge as friends turn to foes back to friends to foes in any given five minutes. The on-screen dynamics are ever-changing, kept consistent by a talented cast of largely background actors, with the occasional recognizable face turning up in the form of Belushi or Billy Gardell as the umpire.
In short, it's like if every college baseball player in Richard Linklater's hilarious Everybody Wants Some!! wasn't so focused on competition but actually meant the mean-spirited wisecracks they ordinarily took at one another in the heat of peer pressure.
These love-hate dynamics the players possess with their teammates, the opposing team, the game, and so forth are rare to find in most films of this breed that are focused on improbable comebacks and underdog stories above all. Mazzello's directorial debut sometimes feels as unhinged as the players, creating big-time, masculine adrenaline that boils over as the heat climbs to its peak at high-noon and the pressures of a low-stakes, pointless game become personal rather than playoff-potential.
Mazzello got the inspiration for the film watching his older brother, Joe, work day after day for fifteen years with intent to make it in the majors, only to go undrafted and never sign with a major ballclub. His story of disappointment became the core focus of Undrafted, as well as the silver lining of the situation - the bond he made with his teammates and the complex dynamics that defined them all. The film - which is actually executive produced by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who was an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Illinois University - is often very funny, almost too timely, sometimes victim of a bit too much obvious sentiment, given the concluding montage, but so taken with its characters and its central sport that it's difficult not to smile at its sincerity.
Starring: Aaron Tveit, Tyler Hoechlin, Duke Davis Roberts, Philip Winchester, Ryan Pinkston, Chace Crawford, Matt Bush, Jim Belushi, and Joseph Mazzello. Directed by: Joseph Mazzello.