NR | 1h 38m | Sports, Dramedy | 2025
I was excited that “Eephus” currently stands at 100 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes, which touts it as one of the greatest baseball movies of all time. Unfortunately, I just don’t see it. Everyone’s calling it “nostalgic.” I found it mildly sad, but maybe you’re a hardcore baseball fan and any baseball is good baseball. I’m giving it 3 out of 5 stars for the director’s potential.
Last Game
On a small public baseball diamond, nestled among woods and soccer fields in suburban Massachusetts, the Riverdogs are getting ready to take on Adler’s Paint. It’s the final game in the teams’ rec league, at Soldiers Field. Obviously not that Soldiers Field.This little field of dreams will soon be sacrificed to the construction of a middle school. Rather than simply retire their teams or drive an extra 20 minutes to an inferior field with a bad septic tank, the two teams decide to give their hallowed baseball place the send-off it deserves. Somebody brought fireworks.
Naturalistic
What you get is a low-key amateur sports affair, with small-town guys doing mildly amusing dude stuff. In the funniest scene, the Riverdogs yell out Italian foods and pizza toppings—“Portobello mushrooms! “Meatballs!” That’s because the other team’s pitcher, Dilberto (David Torres Jr.), is on a diet, is extremely hangry, and it’s fun to wind him up even tighter in hopes he'll fling some irate, wild pitches.The second funniest part are the two 20-something skateboarders, who’ve clearly enhanced their day herbally and pause, dazed and confused, to observe the proceedings. They wonder aloud who scored the last touchdown. It’s the performance that’s funny. Because in what universe does any American male, no matter how skaterboi-nerdy, not know a home run from a touchdown?
Life After Local Sports?
The setting is quite nice, and there’s well-documented fall foliage. The game has blue skies, sweet clouds, and forest canopies hiding those ubiquitous, leafy, suburban pockets of shadow, where lurking teens inhale all manner of smokables and litter Anheiser-Busch products. The descending dusk is also nice, and the camera follows the game even as darkness gathers and the temperature drops. There’s birdsong and crickets. These are a few of America’s favorite things.As the light begins to dim, some of the guys begin to muse about what they’ll do for leisure after the game is over. They don’t have a whole lot going on. They’re not actual friends. Gently and gradually, first-time director Carson Lund suggests that in a world where communal spaces and collective activities are slowly dissolving, this game is it for these men. And, you know ... isn’t that sad? It’s sad.
The Eephus as Life Metaphor
The titular “Eephus” refers to a deceptive, low-velocity, high-arcing pitch that’s thrown in a manner that falsely telegraphs a high rate of speed, but which in reality moves so slowly that it takes the batter by surprise. As explained by a player, “He tries to swing at it like it’s normal, but it’s already past him. The eephus makes him lose track of time.”Instead of trying to have this metaphor sneakily hit moviegoers subconsciously, Lund assigns more of a comical grandiosity, sign-posting its obviousness. He presents the eephus metaphor (yearning for a fast life, while living a slow one, and life passes us by before we realize it) as an easily hittable pitch.
Needs More Cowbell! Er, Tension
This portrait of the death of a cherished world, framed by angry, nonchalant, and anguished responses from men who lack the words to communicate their feelings, could have hit a home run. The only problem is that the realistic, naturalistic, slice-of-life treatment utilized here ignores theater’s premiere cardinal rule. There must be an underlying but palpable source of tension at all times in order to keep the audience invested. Tension, often referred to as conflict, can also be generated by powerful romantic attraction, or by actors who naturally ooze so much charisma you can’t take your eye off them regardless of the setting.All in all, “Eephus” leaves you with the skateboarders’ experience: watching a game at a local park between patrons of two different drinking establishments. You don’t know any of the players, the humor flies over your head because it’s all inside jokes, and the athletics are subpar. It’s hard to get invested. As one of the skater kids observes, “I’ve been here an hour, and I still don’t know what’s going on.”
On the other hand—this is what America does, and everyone’s usually having a blast. For the aging athletes of “Eephus,” it might be their last hurrah, but for upstart director Lund, when he gets access to A-list actors, it’s highly likely that it'll be an entirely different ball game.
