Cheap The Scout (DVD) (Albert Brooks, Brendan Fraser) (Michael Ritchie) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Scout

A real feel-good movie
"The Scout" is one of those movies that leaves you with a warm feeling in your soul after the video has been turned off. It is the story of a man who finds a friend and triumphs over his fears.
Al Percolo is a New York Yankees scout who is experiencing the worst luck of his life. When his boss sends him to Mexico on a grudge trip, Al discovers "the greatest ballplayer that ever lived": Steve Nebraska. Al manages to land a deal with Steve, but is fired while telling his boss about his great find. When the pair returns to the United States, Steve is promptly snapped up with a $55 million bid from the Yankees. Despite all his success, Steve's world is anything but the fairytale it appears to be. Steve has dangerous idiosyncrasies and an abusive past, which are uncovered as time goes on.
Brendan Fraser plays the part of the slightly eccentric, slightly insecure Steve Nebraska with astounding depth. Albert Brooks is perfect as the cheeky, unyielding scout.
However, Dianne Wiest is much too abrasive as Steve's psychologist, Doctor Aaron. She cannot decide who her character is. One minute she is speaking gently to Al, the next she is glaring and snapping at him. I'm afraid this psychologist might need a psychologist herself!
Despite the heavy subject material, the movie has its light moments. There are several comedic occasions provided by Steve's singing, and I must say, these points alone are reason enough to see the movie. Of course, there is also the inevitable victory, which makes everything beforehand worth it.
What is really refreshing about this movie is how clean it is. There are less than ten profanities in the entire film, and they are the only objectionable content.
"The Scout" is simply a fine piece of work, and a wonderful trip to take from everyday life.

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Its hard to believe this was actually made...
Just so there is no mistake, this is THE worst movie I have ever seen. I have seen a lot of movies. I saw this when it came out. And still, 7 years later it holds this prestigious position. I have to spoil a few parts of this film to make my point. Don't read on if you want to be "surprised" by it.

Lets start with the things that we know about the characters in the film by the end.
Albert Brooks is a washed up Baseball scout until he finds Brendan Fraser. He is really desperate to find his "King Kong" to bring back and show the world. Because of this he plays the mildly pathetic role of the pushy mentor. That's pretty much it for this textbook one dimensional character.
Diane Wiest is the psychiatrist that is introduced to help out Brendan Fraser's character since he has a few "issues". She cares for his well being, well, because she's a doctor. Oh and a woman, so of course she's motherly. Whatever. That's pretty much it for this ( also ) textbook one dimensional character. I think she has about 10 minutes of screen time. I think Steinbrenner had about 10 too.
There is a list of other curious characters that awkwardly stumble in and out of this story but I won't mention them here to save time.
Now lets get to Fraser's character. The things we know ( by the end of the film ) are that he is an inhuman pitcher. He knocks the catchers over with his awesome power. He hits every ball out of the park. He loves baseball. We figure out that he has abandonment issues mostly from the hints dropped early on. He avoids questions about his parents, he freaks out at the airport in New York when he loses sight of Brooks and begs "don't leave me alone again" or something equally obvious. And then of course because Diane Weist tells us this is so an hour into the movie. "He has abandonment issues" I think is her line. "REALLY?" was mine. She also informs us ( and Brooks ) that he had an abusive father with the deeply moving and poetic line "I think he had an abusive father".
Ok now to my biggest problem with the film. The questions that are NEVER answered about Fraser's character.
1. Brooks finds him in Mexico. We never find out why he is living there.
2. His parents are gone. We never find out where or why. No of course we never meet them. That would be to obvious.
3. He hates questions. He freaks out right from the start "I don't like all these questions, I don't like answering questions". We never find out why.
4. Woman walk by him and give him their phone number without ever meeting him. We don't know why. I guess cause he is cute. But this character point is never used again. With the exception of a woman that works for the Yankees who wants to take him home. No nothing ever comes of this. Well maybe it is so that Brooks can deliver the responsible social commentary "You know you need to use protection?". Kill me know.
5. Before he gets signed he says that he has no problem playing in front of people, big crowds or not. When he signs with the Yankees, he freaks out when asked if he is going to pitch this season. "Oh... I .... I don't know about that" he states. WHY?. You never find out. I guess its the abandonment issues. Whatever.
6. And now my favorite character trait. Oh god I love this one. He's really good at doing laundry. That's right. He knows all there is to know about doing laundry.
Laundry my friends.
You know this because he tells you so in one scene. How does he know so much? you ask. That's right, you never find out. Amazing.

This movie actually sucks the quality out of all other movies. It is the movie that I gage all other movies by. In that respect I suggest you see it too. Every thing you see after will at least be better than this one.

A final note, just so you know I'm not the only one that thought this movie stunk. This movie was actually made in 1988 and shelved by Fox. It only saw the light of day because of the baseball strike in 1994 to try to recoup loses.

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One of the best movies I've ever seen
I like everything about this movie. It's got comedy, it's got drama, and it's something you can watch with your girlfriend's family without getting embarrassed. I love baseball movies and this is one of my favorites. A lot of celebrity cameos, too: Steinbrenner, Saberhagen, Keith Hernandez, Ozzie Smith and singer Tony Bennett. A good movie for any underdog with major league dreams.