The filmmakers realize that playing baseball isn't nearly enough to fix what's wrong in these kids' lives, which might have made a more provocative ending than what follows.

[Keanu] Reeves is often mocked for his blankness, but that quality is an asset here.

Director Brian Robbins' film ultimately seems as uninterested in penetrating the graffiti-scarred walls of its Cabrini Green setting as its white-bread protagonist is.

At heart, it's still an underdog sports flick of the sort we've seen countless times.