I love this movie so much

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I wanted to but couldn't!

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Jack Elliott (Tom Selleck) used to be a great baseball player. Now he's an apathetic over the hill slugger who's bigger in his own mind. One day he's dumped onto the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Central baseball league. There he falls for his liaison Aya Takahashi, and learns from her father the coach (Ken Takakura). Dennis Haysbert plays the only other American on the team.It's a well done rom-com. Plus it's a well done redemption film. The clichés and the formulas are all here. And they're all expertly done by Fred Schepisi.Tom Selleck is perfect as the aging baseball player. Not only does he look the part, he projects that sense of entitlement and was able to grow the character to his redemption. This has all the elements of a feel good movie.

This film is a different twist on the baseball comedy genre. Here, MLB player Tom Selleck is traded to a Japanese team. Predictably, there is culture clashes as the Japanese do things much different than the way its done in America. As always, there is also a love interest for Selleck in a Japanese commercial agent. Corny jokes and generally predictable situations make this film a forgettable one. The one bright spot here is the accurate portrayal of the Japanese culture.Unless you for some reason really love Tom Selleck and his style of humor or the game of baseball(which I do not), skip this film.

I agree with BigAlC - this movie actually prepared me for a lot of the cultural differences and practices before I went to live in Japan for a year in 1993. Tom Selleck does a fantastic job here, as always, and the movie is greatly humorous and educational. I'm a big fan of Tom Selleck's, and he blesses this part with his usual charm and charisma to this part, bringing the film to life in a way I can't imagine any other actor being able to pull off. This film featured some first-rate Japanese actors, and it was highly entertaining to watch them as they interacted with Selleck - I can imagine the fun he had during the actual filming of the movie - Japan's an awesome place to go, whether you want to party, sight-see or just try to take everything in.

I kind of had somewhat high expectations for this movie. I've always thought that Tom Selleck's lesser known movies (ie Runaway and Coma), where well above the ones he had more press for. Maybe the producers should have had a little more knowledge about former major league baseball players who became stars overseas. The majority were players too good for triple a baseball, but not exactly major league matériel. I admire the idea of putting Selle's's character in Japn, versus the cliché of having play in the minors. Sad to say, this movie, much like the title of the post, is stranded at third by a movie that seems to be running on autopilot. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel, and hopefully, the producers would learn from the mistakes. The premise is just way too unique to be left alone with this uneven flick