[critical] A New Chance

A talent scout specializing in baseball sees his life switch with the gradual loss of his sight. He decides, however, to make one last trip to Atlanta with his daughter, looking for a promising talent.

Author’s Note

[rating:3/10]

• Release Date : November 21, 2012

• Directed by Robert Lorenz

• Film american

• With Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake

• Duration : 1h 51min

• Original title : Trouble With The Curve

• Trailer :

When the lord grumpy Clint Eastwood, the stunned Amy Adams, who oscillates between composition and glossy appearance to fill up the portfolio, and the singer who dreamed of an actor (you said M. Pokora ? We are not in Robin hood unhappy !) get together on the same tray it gives A New Chance, a drama, a soporific that will make us hate each of the protagonists present on the screen.

Imagine a telefilm directed by M6 for the modest sum of 200 million dollars. You get to view the thing ? And well you are still far from the account. In reality, A New Chance seems to be much more similar to a program such as The Day When Everything changed the soup mid-afternoon used to entertain grandma. The fault of what, you might ask, surely. Has it all. Absolutely everything. Each plot leads the film from the first minute. Clint Eastwood we spring his eternal game of actor to mimic single who is grinning while swearing constantly (this had worked well for Gran Torino but here we are close to the indigestion). Justin Timberlake does what he can, that is to say not much, and Amy Adams seems to stir the wind with an energy that certainly sparkling for a moment, but marred by a set of silliness to any event. Silliness to be found at all levels, in particular on the side of the music. Never band-its has not been so unpleasant for our little ears are delicate. A sad moment ? Get out the violins ! A moment of happiness ? Take out the guitars ! And electric if-you-like ! Needed a small quartet Susan Boyle/Birdy/Adele/Bruno Mars at the final and the cup would have been more than full.

The most sad in this story is without doubt the presence of a John Goodman appear to have realized his error in the middle of filming. Like a marathoner who would have realised the error of his course and two kilometres from the arrival, Mister Goodman did what any professional should do : seethe on the inside while smiling on the outside. Except that when one is called Goodman it is very difficult to hide his anger. Result of the accounts, without his knowledge, it is mainly to him that we will have a good time. We shall not speak of course not of the presence of an actor as magnetic and indispensable as Matthew Lillard (but if you remember he played in Scooby-Doo ! But not in the role of the dog ! Although…) or that of a Robert Patrick more drunk than ever and that has not even taken the trouble to comb their hair to pass in front of the cameras.

All of this will have for sole and only result of we work-out in a torrent of emotions muddy where every little ripple will have on our body, that two possible consequences : falling asleep fast, simple and efficient, or a drawn out yawn for the most unlucky.