Classic Movie Review: 'Rookie of the Year'

Rookie of the Year (1993)

Directed by Daniel Stern

Written by Sam Harper

Starring Thomas Ian Nicholas, Gary Busey, Amy Morton

Release Date July 7th 1993

Published July 17th, 2023

As a kid, the idea of a movie featuring my Chicago Cubs was golden. I loved it. I was incredibly happy to throw down money to watch a movie featuring Wrigley Field and a hint of the magic of the Major League Baseball that I was obsessed with. Rookie of the Year existed in a pantheon of movies like Back to the Future 3 and Taking Care of Business that made a joke of having my lovably losing Cubbies winning the World Series, something the team hadn't done since 1908. For a time, the Cubs were a go-to reference for anyone wanting to reference long term losing or a poignant dedication to thankless endeavor.

Rookie of the Year however, was a little different. The earnestness of this family comedy had the Cubs winning the World Series not as an ironic joke but as a genuine moment of unexpected triumph. It's about the ultimate underdogs overcoming the odds to do the impossible in a way that was inspiring and not meant to mock, even as it takes an over-powered kid pitcher to make it happen. Rookie of the Year's nostalgic appeal has lingered for me for 30 years simply because of the fact that it wasn't made with the intent of mocking the idea that my favorite team might actually win.

It can be hard to wipe the nostalgia out of your eyes and see something for what it really is. Sadly, for the Everyone's a Critic 1993 Podcast, I forced myself to do just that and what I found is that Rookie of the Year is as obnoxious and insufferable as any movie in the last 30 years. It gets a break because it has incredibly low ambitions, being a movie for very small children, but watching it as an adult was a miserable experience nonetheless. The charm of Rookie of the Year has, for me, completely worn off and curdled into a spoiled bit of nostalgia that I would very much like to forget.

Rookie of the Year stars toothy 12 year old Thomas Ian Nicholas, future star of the American Pie franchise. Here, Nicholas plays Henry Rowengartner a baseball loving nerd who lacks natural athletic gifts. This is despite the word of his mother who claims that Henry's dad was a ballplayer. Sadly, Henry's Dad left years ago and is barely a memory. Now, Mom is dating a weasel named Jack (Bruce Altman). We know he's a weasel because of his shirts, his unearned confidence, and his stupid car and haircut.

The plot of Rookie of the Year begins when Henry suffers a broken shoulder. The break heals oddly and leaves Henry's tendons super tight. Soon Henry is throwing an incredible 100 mile per hour fastball. When he shows off his arm at a Chicago Cubs game by throwing a ball from the bleachers to home plate in record time, Henry catches the eye of the Cubs duplicitous VP Larry "Fish" Fisher. Fish tracks Henry down and cuts a deal with Jack to make Henry the newest star of the Chicago Cubs. This comes over much consternation from Henry's mom, and much to the excitement of Henry's best friends, George (Patrick Lebeque) and Clark (Patrick Hy Gorman).

Less excited about this than anyone is the Cubs legendary pitching star Chet "Rocket" Steadman. He thinks Henry is a sideshow attraction and suspects that this publicity stunt isn't good for anything other than the Cubs' bottom line. Nevertheless, Chet will have to get on board as his manager assigns Chet to try and teach Henry how to control his 100 mile per hour fastball. Naturally, the standoffish Chet will slowly come around as a mentor for Henry and emerges as a love interest for Henry's mom.

That's barely half of what is left of Rookie of the Year as despite being 1 hour and 44 minutes in length, Rookie of the Year feels about 10 years long. As directed by actor Daniel Stern, who also co-stars in the film, Rookie of the Year is a series of lengthy and dull expository scenes broken up by the occasional baseball game. It takes a lifetime for the movie to introduce its plot and once it does, the film becomes blisteringly obnoxious as it introduces Stern's own character, the Cubs Pitching Coach, Brickma.

Brickma is what happens when someone writes a part for Jim Varney's Ernest P. Worrell and then can't get Varney. I cannot confirm that that is what happened with Rookie of the Year but the evidence is on screen any time Stern is onscreen. His performance, the overwrought gags, they all feel like rejected Ernest bits. Varney is not everyone's cup of tea but he did live that role as best as it could possibly be. Watching someone try to be Ernest without being Varney is like a bad copy of something that wasn't all that great to begin with.

The obnoxiousness of Stern is cross-pollinated with a calculated cuteness that is incredibly forced. Nicholas is adorable but the movie's framing of him is cloying and insufferable. There are no surprises to be found in Rookie of the Year, all of the expected beats roll past us without an ounce of invention or a single well-earned laugh. The only actor who manages to even remotely invite a laugh is actor Albert Hall whose taciturn manager character can't get Henry's last name right. Hall appears to relish coming up with dopey derivations of this gag and his not being a natural comedian makes the bit almost funny. Almost, nothing can truly escape the void that is Rookie of the Year.

The most disappointing aspect of Rookie of the Year however, may be star Gary Busey. Known for his broad performances that are either wildly terrible, see Hider in the House, or stunningly great, see The Firm, Busey could not be more of a non-entity in Rookie of the Year. It's rare and unwelcome to watch well known weirdo Gary Busey play such a basic, wholesome character. There is nary a glint in Busey's eye. Everything is just going through the motions of a character that is fully a device of the plot. Busey could not be more boring in Rookie of the Year and I've never seen Gary Busey be boring. Terrible? Yes. Brilliant? Yes. Boring? Only in Rookie of the Year.

Rookie of the Year is the latest movie to be featured on my new spinoff podcast, Everyone's a Critic 1993. It's a spinoff of the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast where myself, Gen-Z'er M.J, and Gen-Xer Amy watch movies that came out 30 years ago to assess how movies and culture have changed in the past 3 decades. Rookie of the Year offers very little insight, it's just a very bad, and terribly forgettable family movie, but other 1993 movies have proven to be a fascinating glimpse into what popular culture looked like 30 years ago. You can find the Everyone's a Critic 1993 Podcast on the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast feed, wherever you listen to podcasts.