The Final Season

A tiny Iowa farm town has been winning the state high school baseball championship for years, but now the school is being absorbed into a neighboring town and the baseball coach (Powers Boothe) has been let go; can the new coach (Sean Astin) lead the demoralized team to one more trophy? Y’think? “Inspired by a true story,” say the credits—which really means “inspired by a story you’ve seen in so many sports movies you can’t even remember half their titles.” Boothe and Astin do solid work, but supporting performances are often amateurish, and the whole thing is strictly pro forma. Important scenes seem to be missing from Art D’Alessandro and James Grayford’s script, though director David M. Evans finds time for some little girl (somebody’s daughter, perhaps?) to sing the National Anthem at the Big Game.