A gambling addict and ticket scalper living an aimless life reluctantly agrees to coach a Little League team from the Chicago projects as part of a loan agreement.
Bright, educated, handsome Conor O'Neill's promising future was wrecked by his gambling addiction, which dragged him into heavy drinking and petty crime, but worst of all, the stifling grip of loan-shark bookies. Desperate for a loan, he agrees to stand in for lawyer friend Jimmy Fleming as coach of a Chicago ghetto Little League baseball team. His sense of pride, becoming the boys' sole idol, and competition, plus their attractive teacher, motivate Conor. But the crushing loan problem rather requires leaving town.—KGF Vissers
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 inveterate sports gambler who needs a bailout loan from a friend to pay off his mounting debt. As a condition for receiving the necessary funds, Conor is saddled with coaching a corporate-sponsored Little League baseball team for underprivileged youth in Chicago's notorious Cabrini Green housing project. Reluctant at first, Conor slowly begins to enjoy his new authority role, especially when he makes the acquaintance of his players' attractive teacher, Elizabeth Wilkes (Diane Lane). Based on the real-life chronicle Hardball: A Season in the Projects by Outside magazine editor Daniel Coyle.
Connor O'Neill is a gambler who has bet on his dead father's account and is now severely in debt. In order to repay the debt he must coach a baseball team of troubled kids in the ABLA Housing Complex in Chicago. He had decided that once he repaid his debts he would leave the team but soon Connor connects with the kids and finds it harder to leave than he thought. Elizabeth Wilkes is a school teacher that forces the attention of O'Neil away from his pressing problems to the real daunting challenges that nine boys on the team face daily. We see real wealth highlighted by real poverty in Chicago. We see wasted talent in a mentor draw out the potential of young men midst broken lives ABLA. Despite being language challenged this is a story worth being seen by all young men. A modern day Boys townConnor O'Neill is a gambler who has bet on his dead father's account and is now severely in debt. In order to repay the debt he must coach a baseball team of troubled kids in the ABLA Housing Complex in Chicago. He had decided that once he repaid his debts he would leave the team but soon Connor connects with the kids and finds it harder to leave than he thought. Elizabeth Wilkes is a school teacher that forces the attention of O'Neil away from his pressing problems to the real daunting challenges that nine boys on the team face daily. We see real wealth highlighted by real poverty in Chicago. We see wasted talent in a mentor draw out the potential of young men midst broken lives ABLA. Despite being language challenged this is a story worth being seen by all young men. A modern day Boys town?
