DVD Review: ‘The Final Season’

The Final Season was released in theaters but ended up being kind of a sleeper. Even myself, a self-proclaimed hopelessly unwaivering baseball nut, failed to see this in the theater … and I can’t even use the excuse that it didn’t play in Saint Louis, because it did. No, it just sort of passed under the radar. The movie was directed by David M. Evans, who’s no stanger to baseball, having directed The Sandlot and its sequel.

The movie tells the true story of the high school baseball team in Norway, Iowa. The school had a tradition of baseball, lived for baseball and ultimately feared its own demise without baseball. The school had boasted 19 Iowa state championships out of the last 24, but with the next season potentially their unprecedented 20th championship year, things were looking grim. The school of fewer than 200 students in a town of fewer than 600 residents was being forcefully merged into a larger surrounding school district. This meant the Norway Tigers would be no more. After fighting fior the team’s cause, rookie coach Kent Stock (Sean Astin) takes over for one final season after the school released legendary coach Jim Van Scoyac (Powers Boothe) due to his opposition to the merger. What the school doesn’t expect is that Stock may still coach the team to their 20th championship, despite their plan to ensure the team closes its final season with a humiliating loss.

While The Final Season does feel at times like a Hallmark after-school special, it also tells a wonderfully, if not sad, story about a legendary town’s legendary baseball tradition. Powers Boothe actually delivers a classicly gruff performance as Coach Von Scoyac and the young actors playing the teammates clearly know a thing or two about baseball. I never felt like I was watching actors pretending to play, but ball players who happened to be actors as well. The film also stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Michael Angarano, Larry Miller and Tom Arnold.

[rating:3/5]

DVD Features:

• Audio Commentary
• The Real Season, a documentary featurette about the true story