What a pity that You Gotta Believe this pretty, Cinderella-style tale of kids who are uncoordinated baring all for the sake of US dollars and who, with absolute mad determination and great coaching make it through to the Little League World Series Finals in 2002 is all over the place. This film definitely has all the ingredients that make a true-blue sporting story and at times is filled with humor and is emotionally gripping. After all, coming from someone like me who clings to the baseball fanatic image from childhood it is nearly impossible not to shed a few tears when a game goes down to a wing and a prayer. Unfortunately, all that seemed to matter to the audience was the one element, the sentimental one, which, in my opinion, made You Gotta Believe not have an entertaining victory.
The character played by Luke Wilson is a loving family man who loves baseball, but has a surprise in store, as this all begins with him being told he has brain cancer. Portions of this, of course, are totally true and based in reality (as the pre-credits scene will allude) but the sequence and the style of telling the story is both disorganized and confusing. Well, that incoherent bottom half of the screen showing a cringey team of noweal looking kids playing out their final match of a worst performing season, was kind of cute in a rough-and-tumble comical way, and kids will like it even their coaches, in Luke Wilson’s case a rather bumbling one and a fanatically obsessed workaholic Greg Kinnear, do coaxibly cheesy dry humoured eyerolls which feels like it is a better fit for a lighter film than what it is.
You Gotta Believe appears to be the complete opposite with the entire film echoing darker themes. The movie Delivers hardcore contrasts between athletic silliness, then mundane family drama, then serious health concerns, and extreme grief and back again which is certainly confusing. Although quite gripping at times, this rather felt excessive for a film such as this which is not where the filmmakers seemed to want to take this film.
No matter how strained the baseball cliches become You Gotta Believe has consistently succeeded on two fronts: the technical and the true. The team’s fans are not only found in the stands, as the songs go and they just keep on winning, ‘Rawhide’ is an appropriate choice here as it is certainly one of the most catchy songs of the times perfect for a team sport. The film does aim for a similar achievement later in the film, but the sequence is so perfect it deserves applause for both its honesty and creativity. Sometimes, the focus shifts from the players to the ball, while the words of the song are moved onscreen in a rhythmic fashion. Why was this not the entire movie? Well it sort of is.
With all that confusion and those doubts, You Gotta Believe is a good picture indeed. Yes, I would have preferred seeing more of the kids playing through their training and getting into scrapes with each other. Yes, I would have liked to see more tense baseball scenes (there’s one at the climactic part which is a wonderful scene) and perhaps more baseball bonding as well. But does it have to be all about the illness of Luke Wilson or his family, or the team work and how they together were able to beat all the odds? It is a movie in slow motion but filled with emotions and a desire to win. An underdog by choice. Which is alright. And that is just enough. 3/5
You Gotta Believe is now showing in cinemas.
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