Movie Review
Mac is safe at home in feel-good baseball fantasy

By Jeff Shannon
Special to The Seattle Times

TOUCHSTONE PICTURES The Milwaukee Brewers general manager (Chris Noth, left) is thrilled to have Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) back on the team in "Mr. 3000."

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As a predictable mainstream comedy, "Mr. 3000" is a line-drive double with men in scoring position. As a tailor-made vehicle for Bernie Mac, it's a solid triple with the bases loaded. It's no "Bull Durham," but it certainly gives "Major League" a run for its money.

To Bernie Mac's credit, it's hard to imagine anyone else playing 47-year-old Stan Ross, a veteran first baseman for the ever-struggling Milwaukee Brewers. He returns to the majors after nine years of cushy retirement upon learning that he's actually three hits shy of his 3,000 career-hit claim to fame. Building on the comedic persona he's established in several well-chosen film roles and his own TV sitcom, Mac hits all the right notes in a role that calls for arrogant swagger and rampant egotism tempered by humility, contrition and, in baseball terms, the ultimate sacrifice.

Stan's reckless vanity made him a pariah with the press when he quit the pennant-racing Brewers at age 38, content to put his "Mr. 3000" stamp on every shop in a self-worshipping strip mall. Even his closest former teammate (Michael Rispoli) thinks he's a diamond diva, but he supports Stan's attempted comeback when a statistical error reveals a three-hit shortfall in Stan's superstar record. His former lover Maureen (Angela Bassett) is now covering his comeback for ESPN; you can see where this is going, and "Mr. 3000" offers no surprises as it swings toward a feel-good finale.

Movie review Showtimes and trailer **½ "Mr. 3000," with Bernie Mac, Angela Bassett, Paul Sorvino, Chris Noth, Michael Rispoli, Brian White. Directed by Charles Stone III, from a screenplay by Eric Champnella, Keith Mitchell and Howard Michael Gould. 104 minutes. Rated PG-13 for mild profanity. Several theaters.

How it gets there is the movie's saving grace. As he did with 2002's sleeper hit "Drumline," director Charles Stone III elevates formulaic material by capitalizing on playful opportunities that lesser directors might overlook, such as playing Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" over the Brewers' balletic pre-game stretching, or making a visual joke from the dugout proliferation of bubblegum and sunflower seeds. He's also got a light touch with romance, and Mac and Bassett shine as their characters sort through some routine emotional baggage.

"Mr. 3000" loses momentum after the one-hour mark but finds its groove again when Brewers star T-Rex Pennebaker (Brian White, from TV's "The Shield") gets a lesson in leadership from Stan, while their skipper (Paul Sorvino) stews in silence. The inevitable outburst that Sorvino delivers is like a valentine to Lou Piniella.

It's all by the numbers, including obligatory TV cameos (Jay Leno, Larry King, Tom Arnold) and the team's profit-hungry general manager (Chris Noth, bringing panache to a throwaway role), but the payoffs are consistently satisfying.

With Richard Linklater's remake of "The Bad News Bears" now in the works, "Mr. 3000" is the enjoyable opener of a promising double-header.

Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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