Keanu Reeves,
Diane Lane,
John Hawkes,
D.B. Sweeney,
Sterling Elijah Brown
... see more 
Television actor-turned-director Brian Robbins follows up Varsity Blues (1999) and Ready to Rumble (2000) with another sports comedy. Keanu Reeves stars as Conor O'Neill, an underachiever and invetera... read more
Directed by: Brian Robbins
Release Date: September 14, 2001
DVD Release Date: February 19, 2002
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Stats: 2,329 reviews
Your Rating
Flixster Reviews (2,329)
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January 10, 2010It's an incredibly dumb urban sports movie that tries to cover racism and male comradery. Keanu Reeves plays a gambling low life who gets stuck coaching kids, so it's nothing you haven't seen before. I can tell that it wasn't supposed to be good, but that doesn't make it okay.
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February 10, 2008This hard-edged little dream deserves plenty of credit for avoiding the light comedy and fairy-tale conclusions by which underdog sports sagas usually are known, and would deserve an even higher rating were it not for Keanu Reeves's wooden (as usual) performance in the lead role.... read more
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February 7, 2008It took me a week to come out with a rating on this one, and I still can't decide whether it's a pretty good movie with some really bad parts, or a bad movie with a few really good parts. The screenplay seems decent, but the dialogue is rough; Keanu Reeves is mostly bad, Diane La... read more
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August 2, 2007This is a really dark movie really. The main guy is in the dumps in a bad way and he hooks up with inner city kids to play baseball. He is pretty much a scummy guy until the end and he doesn't seem to get the lesson the situation is trying to show him. The ending is a real bum... read more
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December 16, 2010Hardball is a totally predictable film from start to finish. While the young boys gave excellent efforts in their roles and Keanu was his usual outstanding self, the story line has been over done. This film was entertaining and I enjoyed the efforts by all the actors but it is no... read more
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July 6, 2009This film had at first threw nothing but balls at me, then started to throw some strikes, before finishing off with some fastballs, and a few curves for one heck off a game.
Yes it is not a film in which it aims for thrown dishes, loud fyelling, and anger that wins awards, like... read more -
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June 9, 2007Tragically stereotypical and cheesy. It had it's moments but for the most part it sucked hard balls.
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September 6, 2006it started off with me thinking "this will be a cheesy nobodies to winners tale, but it actually has the ability to make you cry.
One of the biggest surprises I have ever had.
Critic Reviews
September 18, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
September 17, 2001
Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle
Works where it counts, on the emotional level. Full Review
September 17, 2001
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Does surprisingly few lurches as it walks the tightrope between urban realism ... and family entertainment. Full Review
September 14, 2001
Robert Koehler, Variety
There's no cork inside Hardball, but there's more than enough corn. Full Review
September 14, 2001
Norman Wilner, Toronto Star
There's nothing wrong with a good cry, or a good cliche, and Hardball offers both by the barrel. Full Review
September 14, 2001
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
A misshapen mess which relies on shameless manipulation and cute casting to cover its lack of a plot and phony emotions.
September 14, 2001
Jan Stuart, Newsday
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll do exactly what this formula hip-hop baseball saga wants you to do. Full Review
September 14, 2001
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
A surefire heart-tugger made with skill and judgment. Full Review
September 14, 2001
Don Irvine, Globe and Mail
This is a film designed not so much to tell a coherent and moving story as it is to deliver a van full of cinematic groceries to a certain audience. Full Review
September 14, 2001
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
The movie is so littered with cliches of genre, as well as clichés of artifice in Reeves' pained performance, that any semblance of social reality goes foul. Full Review
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Hardball
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