A League Of Their Own / Million Dollar Baby

A League of Their Own (1992) It's still a fun watch overall, Hanks is great, Lovitz kills it despite being in it far less than I remember; but I hate the message it sends. Let me start off by asking a question. Do you think Dottie threw the game at the end so Kit could win? That's always been my interpretation of the film. It starts off with Old Dottie telling the older grandchild to let the younger one score sometimes; Dottie tells the GM to trade her so Kit could have the spotlight; Dottie even quits the team (dick move by the way) right before the World Series because she inexplicably needs to start having kids the second her husband comes home from the war. They go out of their way to show Dottie watching Kit have a meltdown in the dugout before her final at bat, with Dottie looking upset. Time and again throughout the story, Kit makes Dottie feel lousy for overshadowing her, and Dottie says throughout that the game doesn't mean that much to her. She even had to be convinced to go to the reunion at all. She threw that game, the narrative heavily suggests it.



Giving a brat their way would be a terrible message to begin with, but whether or not you think that was the case, the movie's ultimate message is awful. Either way the message is, "Be a whiny little bitch and sometimes you'll get your way." Kit is one of the worst characters in cinema history, probably the worst non-villain in a sports movie ever. Just constantly whining about slights real or imagined, and literally crying in the dugout after a tough go. How are we supposed to root for this character? As an aside, the narrative doesn't make a ton of sense because it implies she only made the team because Dottie forced the scout's hand; but Kit was the #1 starter for two different teams (Racine threw her out there in game 7, they clearly trusted her with the pill). They weren't winning games 23-22, so obviously she had some talent when she wasn't having a bipolar episode in the dugout. It's hard to tell how good she actually was because all the character did was whine about not being very good yet still being frustrated with not getting enough credit. I don't know, honestly I just wanted to stop watching whenever she opened her mouth.



Back to the point, there are plenty of sports movies, both before and after this one, where the team you've been following all along loses in the end. I'm fine with that part, losing is part of life. But to have the whiny brat win in the end? I just don't understand what they were thinking when they wrote this movie? It's as if the target audience was whiny younger sisters, because I don't know who else could or would even try to relate to Kit. Truly a puzzling creative choice, one that's kept this movie off of my favorite sports movies list. Which is too bad, because the Peaches were overachievers when you think about it. Their best hitter (Marla) left in the middle of the season to get married, they had a huge fight that tore the team apart literally as it forced a trade and they lost their two best pitchers (Betty to bereavement after her husband was killed, again Kit to a trade); and again, MVP Dottie Hinson fucking quit right before the World Series. And they pushed it to a game 7!



Ironically, watching the team battle through all of that adversity would've been the best part of the story-- but it was reduced to a montage. The only thing Dottie does that was worse than quitting before the series was coming back in game 7 just to throw the game for her crybaby sister who is now playing for the other team. The end is a rough watch as a sports fan or a movie fan, honestly. Hanks is Hanks, Davis is charismatic, David Strathairn is great in everything, Lovitz is fun, and the other Peaches all have their moments. The movie is enjoyable if you tune out Kit's whining. But that ending to this day straight pisses me off.