- This hilarious, crowd-pleasing hit scores big laughs with funnyman Bernie Mac (BAD SANTA, OCEAN’S 11) and Academy Award(R) nominee Angela Bassett (Best Actress, WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, 1994). The day he got his 3,000th big league hit, Stan Ross (Mac) walked away from the game believing he’d punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame. But 10 years later, Stan becomes baseball’s b
This hilarious, crowd-pleasing hit scores big laughs with funnyman Bernie Mac (BAD SANTA, OCEAN’S 11) and Academy Award(R) nominee Angela Bassett (Best Actress, WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, 1993). The day he got his 3,000th big league hit, Stan Ross (Mac) walked away from the game believing he’d punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame. But 10 years later, Stan becomes baseball’s biggest error when it’s discovered that three of his hits don’t count! Now this over-the-hill former star with an oversized ego decides to make the major league’s most outrageous comeback in order to regain his claim to fame! Also featuring Chris Noth (TV’s SEX AND THE CITY, CAST AWAY) and Paul Sorvino (THE COOLER, GOODFELLAS) … catch the laugh-packed comedy that’s been a home run with audiences everywhere!Bernie Mac is perfectly cast in Mr. 3000, a feel-good baseball comedy that capitalizes on Mac’s established comedy persona. He plays Stan Ross, veteran first-baseman for the struggling Milwaukee Brewers, who quit the team during a pennant race and, nine years later, discovers that he’s actually three hits short of his 3,000 career-hit claim to fame. When he attempts a comeback to correct his record, his selfish past returns to haunt him, along with a former flame (Angela Bassett, who deserves better roles) who’s covering Stan’s return to baseball for ESPN. It’s strictly formula, but the comedy is consistently entertaining, and director Charles Stone III proves that his 2002 sleeper hit Drumline was no fluke, injecting observant details into a very predictable plotline. Easily recommended, Mr. 3000 makes a good double-header with 1989′s hit baseball comedy Major League. –Jeff Shannon
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December 18, 2010
#1
Light Comedy with a Little Bite from Bernie Mac.,
“Mr. 3000″ is a sports comedy with a virtuous message that will satisfy light entertainment cravings. Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) is a former Milwaukee Brewer who retired from baseball as soon as he had achieved a career 3000 hits, guaranteeing him a place in the record books and a slew of endorsement deals. His teammates hated him. The press attacked him. But egotistical, self-obsessed Stan didn’t care as long as he had 3000 hits and a shot at the Baseball Hall of Fame. 9 years later, when he is finally being seriously considered for entry into the Hall of Fame, a computational error that caused 3 of his hits to be counted twice is discovered. Stan only made 2997 hits! So he decides to return to baseball, at the age of 47, to get those 3 hits back. He finds that a lot of things have changed since he left the game. But his former love, sports journalist Maureen Simmons (Angela Bassett), is covering his story again. And the team’s young, cocky, selfish, star player (Brian White) reminds Stan of himself.
Bernie Mac injects a little bite into this otherwise feel-good comedy. Stan Ross is obnoxious, but Mac makes him a basically lovable jerk. If you don’t like Bernie Mac’s persona, however, you won’t like this. Stan is overbearing, but “Mr. 3000″ is ultimately a sweet film about self-sacrifice with the occasional off-color comment to remind us that we are talking about professional athletes here. It’s a fun movie if you’re looking for something light.
The DVD: Bonus features include 3 featurettes, 3 extended sequences, 3 deleted scenes with optional director’s commentary, outtakes (3 minutes), and an audio commentary by director Charles Stone III. “The Making of Mr. 3000″ (15 minutes) features interviews with producer Maggie White, director Charles Stone, the principle cast, and the film’s baseball advisor and baseball coordinator. Stone discusses his intentions and the sports shows featured in the film. The cast talk about their experiences with baseball and with training for the film. “Spring Training: The Extras’ Journey” (10 minutes) follows the process of finding the extras to play baseball roles, some of whom were talented players drafted by pro teams in the past. Includes interviews with some of the extras. “Everybody Loves Stan” (3 1/2 minutes) is a sort of mock media production about the Stan Ross character using footage from the movie and a few soundbites from former pro baseball players. Charles Stone does a nice director’s commentary that addresses technical, character, narrative, and thematic aspects of the film, clearly and coherently. Subtitles for the film are available in French and Spanish. Captioning is in English. And dubbing is available in French.
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|December 18, 2010
#2
Bernie Mack wasted again ….,
Bernie Mack is such an explosively funny comedian (The Bernie Mack Show, Kings of Comedy, Ocean’s 11), it makes me hope that he fires his agent so he won’t make any more films like Mr. 3000. This Bernie Mack film is so bad, it not only wastes Mack’s talents, but also those of Angela Bassett (from What’s Love Got to Do With It to this … ugh!) and Paul Sorvino as well. It’s yet another one of those hackneyed sports movies where a talented, but selfish athlete finds redemption and becomes a team player at the end. You know the drill: he’s cocky, but he’s all alone because he’s a jerk, he doesn’t appreciate the woman who loves him, he finds salvation at the end, rallies the team to a big winning streak, blah, blah, blah, blah …. The film tries to be heartwarming and inspiring, but, in the end, all the false emotional minipulation does is take away Mack’s edge, leaving an unfunny and jumbled mess.
Unfortunately, Bernie Mack is traveling down the same film road that Richard Pryor did. Namely, instead of using Mack’s natural edginess and sharp humor to create a truly interesting, if negative, character, Mr. 3000 tries to make him softer and more sympathetic to make him palatable to mainstream audiences. The problem is that that isn’t what Bernie Mack is all about. Look at Mack’s performance in Kings of Comedy — brash, very un-p.c. and very, very funny — and contrast it with the soft, shapeless character he plays in 3000. The film doesn’t have the guts to let Mack be purely nasty. And since the screenwriters didn’t have the talent to believably show Mack’s transformation from heel to hero, the result is a wishy-washy mess that smacks of phony emotion and manipulation. The producers should have just turned Mr. 3000 into a purely negative character a la Billy Bob Thornton in Mack’s much better comedy Bad Santa and gone for the jugular instead of sanding off his rough edges and trying to get the audience to buy it.
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|December 18, 2010
#3
Bernie Mac Nails It,
I can imagine very few people who could have played Stan Ross as well as Bernie Mac did. It was a delicate balance, playing a jerk and still coming across as somewhat likeable. Likeable enough to forgive, anyways.
Bernie Mac plays Stan Ross, a professional ball player who quits at hit 3,000. His entire life centers around the fact that he hit 3,000 hits.
Stan Ross’ main goal is to make it into the Hall of Fame but under review it turns out that 3 of his hits were counted twice and it kicked him out of the running for the Hall of Fame (mostly because nobody even likes him). So, Stan decides to come back to claim his 3 hits, win back his legacy, and continue his campaign into the Hall of Fame.
Even though he has been gone for nine years, the game has changed. The balls are faster, the athletes younger, and the training is more high tech. And to top it off, Stan is older as well.
In other words, Stan needs to change. Not just physically, but his attitude as well. The ending, though predictable, was well worth getting to and fairly satisfying. Since this is a character movie, it all came down to a choice. And, unlike other movies like this, Stan doesn’t hesitate on his choice, he just makes it. I liked that, I liked that a lot. It could have been blown out and that would have ruined the ending for me.
The love interest that Stan chases was actually the only boring part of the movie. After watching a few of them I just started fast forwarding those scenes. Believe me, I didn’t miss a thing. I know it needs to be in there to attract certain demographics, but I found it boring and pointless. So if you are a guy, trust me, just fast forward these parts.
Entertaining and funny… perfect for a good weekend video.
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