When did they say that sequel to The Matrix was coming out? Next November? It appears that audiences will just have to endure Keanu Reeves playing low lifes and zeroes (The Replacements, The Watcher) until the ass-kickin' Neo makes his triumphant return. It's not that he's despicable here playing a compulsive gambler in deep debt forced into little league baseball coaching, because he's not. It's just that he's much better suited dodging bullets than teaching an energetic team of inner city Chicago kids how to play baseball. But to the kids' credit, they do a decent job of taking some of the dramatic load off Reeves, adding colorful prose here and serious dialogue there.

Still, problems remain. Not nearly approaching the likeability of The Bad News Bears, this occasionally cute flick tries too hard at social commentary when all it really needed to do was send Coach Reeves to the bench and simply sit back and allow these talented youngsters to do their thing.