If you take your recipe book of Hollywood
cliches off of the shelf and open up to chapter 2, The Sports
Movie, you'll find the following formula under the subheading
of Team Sports Comedies:
1. Create a team that is so bad that your
average grade school team could easily beat them. Don't be concerned
if doing so places the team's chances of winning so outside
of reality that the audience can't possibly relate.
2. Create a cast of characters that are as
diametrically opposed to each other as possible. Don't be concerned
if doing so creates characters so outside of reality that no
audience member can relate to them.
3. Create every conceivable absurd situation
to occur on and off the playing field. Don't be concerned if
doing so creates situations so outside of reality that no audience
member can relate to them.
4. Create a final game that allows the team
to finally "pull it all together" and play the game
with a level of expertise that's never been seen before, allowing
them to not only win the game, but the entire season. Don't
be concerned if the team's win-loss ratio is so lopsided that
the thought it them being in the "big game" (much
less making it to playoffs) is so outside of reality that the
audience can't possibly believe it.
5. Cast stars who are recognizable, but not
top-draw stars and throw in a few newcomers for good measure.
6. Mix together liberally and bake for approximately
an hour and a half and serve to any audience willing to watch.
Major League follows this formula with such
strict devotion that it may as well have written the recipe.
The film opens with Rachel Phelps (Margaret
Whitton), an ex-exotic dancer inheriting the Cleveland Indians
from her recently deceased husband. She has no desire to live
in Detroit and has concocted a scheme to rid herself of the
team's contract. Namely, she hopes to drive attendance below
the required number, voiding the contract and allowing her to
move the team to Miami. She figures she can accomplish this
by putting together the worst team in the league.
Her plan calls for hiring washed out ball
players, ex-cons, religious fanatics, minor leaguers and just
about anyone else she can find short of the gardening staff.
To further stack the deck in her favor, she strips away every
bit of comfort from the team and humiliates them at every opportunity.
The film covers step 5 from the recipe by
hiring Tom Berenger as washed out ball player, Jake Taylor,
and Charlie Sheen as Rick Vaughn. Making her feature film debut
is Rene Russo (Lynn Wells) and Wesley Snipes (Willie Mays Hayes)
puts in one of his early screen performances.
The odd thing about Major League is that for
as true to formula, and therefore predictable as it is, the
film actually works in some small way. There are some genuinely
funny moments in the film and although the characters are severely
underdeveloped, the actors infuse them with just enough quirky
attitude to make them appealing. I can't say that I ever worked
up any feeling of suspense over the outcome, but the laughs
carried it well enough.
