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With: Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, Michael Gaston, Jaime Tirelli, Jose Rijo, Ann Whitney, Richard Bull, Ellary Porterfield, Alina Vargas, Kelvin Leonardo Garcia, Joendy Pena Brown, Kelvin Leonardo Garcia
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Written by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
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Directed by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, language and brief drug use
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Language: Spanish, English, with English subtitles
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Running Time: 114
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Date: 01/21/2008
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Mr. Beisbol
By Jeffrey M. Anderson Co-writers and co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck follow up their Oscar-nominated hit Half Nelson (2006) with another film that steps very close to Hollywood convention but deftly avoids it. Algenis Perez Soto makes a notable movie debut as "Sugar" Santos, a talented 20 year-old pitcher from the Dominican Republic who gets a shot at joining an American Midwest minor league team. Needless to say, he gets a huge dose of culture shock; the cute, religious white girl who lives nearby offers something of a traditional romantic angle, but the film takes an unexpected right turn away from her. Similarly, it takes a right turn away from the inspirational Rocky-style sports story as Sugar suddenly decides to take a different route to the American Dream. Boden and Fleck present their tale with a deceptive straightforward realism, but it's what they don't show that is key: there's no preaching or finger-wagging, no sentiment and no well-worn grooves. Through this method of sidestepping, they manage to make this baseball film something more than just a baseball film, and it feels like something new. DVD Details: Sony's DVD comes with deleted scenes (8 minutes), a making-of featurette (15 minutes), a featurette about Dominicans and baseball (13 minutes) and a featurette about the casting of Algenis Perez Soto (5 minutes), plus trailers. Note: this review pertains to the PG-13 version.
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