Trailer Link

Release Date:

May 16, 2014

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “A sports agent stages an unconventional recruitment strategy to get talented Asian cricket players to play Major League Baseball.”

Poster: C+ / C / B-

Review: (#1) It’s Mad Men in India. Right? No? Ok, so Jon Hamm goes to India and that’s all this poster really says. The reference to baseball/cricket is hidden in the background and the color scheme is unnecessarily golden.

(#2-#3) The second design is another focusing on Jon Hamm and largely ignoring the premise that puts him into the film. The third finally discovers that the film is about two Indian teens with a shot at the big leagues with a love affair included. Unfortunately, that design is reserved for foreign markets, not in the U.S. where the American hero of the story deserves more prominence than the non-American subjects of the film.

Trailer: C

Review: Because we need another inspirational sports story from Disney. That’s what this trailer suggests. It also suggests that this is more about a man finding peace and love than it is about finding talented new baseball stars. Classic Disney obfuscation, masking a generic romantic drama with a seemingly tangential sports drama.

Oscar Prospects:

Disney will push the film, but like the two cited precedents in the trailer, it’s not going to be an Oscar contender.

Revisions:

(February 2, 2014) Original
(May 11, 2014) New Posters (#2-#3)

Additional Posters