For Love of the Game

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For Love of the Game

PG-13

1999

2h 17m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

47%

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96 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Forty-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is practically a dinosaur by professional baseball standards, fast approaching the end of his career. But, as Chapel stands on the mound pitching the game of his life, his thoughts don't turn to his prized history in sports, but rather return again and again to his tumultuous relationship with Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston), a single mom who has stood at his side through the good and the bad but is now on the verge of leaving him.

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Critics Consensus

Baseball wins, romance loses.

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Michael Sragow

The New Yorker

05/08/2014

For Love of the Game asks whether the same qualities that make an athlete a champion don't also destroy his happiness. The answer, unfortunately, is long-winded and redundant... But some of the baseball scenes are good.

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Michael Wilmington

Chicago Tribune

05/08/2014

2/4

This is no perfect -- or even half-perfect -- game. It's another movie where conventions are subbed for life lessons, where the emotions are cued by golden oldies and where the motivation (at least on the studio's part) isn't love of the game but money.

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Stephen Hunter

Washington Post

05/08/2014

Here are two things that definitely don't go together: baseball and piano music.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Jul 28

... an almost unforgivably schmaltzy love-letter to the game, or rather to the ideals of the game.

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Adrian Martin

Film Critic: Adrian Martin

07/30/2025

3.5/5

Director Sam Raimi is a long way from the gleefully gory Evil Dead films that made his name in the '80s, but he grasps the most poetic elements of the sports genre with grace and élan.

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Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

09/17/2024

4/5

It might not be Kevin Costner's best baseball movie but For Love of the Game is still a solid baseball film after 25 years.

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Alex B

@ALEXANDRIA123 2d

Superb movie if you like baseball starring Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston who made a dynamic duo as romantic partners. However, the theme of the movie was Billy Chapel’s efforts to play baseball to perfection and he did at 40 years old in the movie as he pitched a perfect game! Alex b

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Mike W.

@Weebs825 Jun 26

Kevin Costner has done it again. He and Kelly Preston are brilliant!

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Marcus M

@MMcBain Jun 15

If you are not a baseball fan, this will be a 1-2 to two star movie. If you like baseball, then this is a 3-5 star movie (depending on how you like the "love story/reflection of life" of this baseball movie) This movie does a good job of capturing the focus an athlete has to take on to be successful in their career...and demonstrating the emptiness/void many athletes have when the game has passed them. Great story lines, and most importantly excellent baseball shots/action in the movie with Kevin Costner doing one of the best pitching on screen performances ever (Yes, he actually pitched everything and threw his FB in the 80mph range). So if you like baseball and like a storyline mixed in about life, you will enjoy the chemistry Kelly Preston and Kevin Costner had in this movie as well as a nice performance from a you Jena Malone. JK Simmons as the coach and John C. Reilly also play their characters well although JCR's lack of athleticism does show a bit.

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John D

@RobDoe May 5

This films has its moments. The problem is the screenplay is terrible. Like the novel, it relies on flashbacks, which do not carry over well to film. It becomes a confusing mess.

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True R.

@Draftgrade Apr 27

An all time great date movie for all.

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tommy J

@RT55566390 Oct 16

Clear the mechanism! Such a great movie.

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Sam Raimi

Director

Kevin Costner

Billy Chapel

Kelly Preston

Jane Aubrey

John C. Reilly

Gus Sinski

Jena Malone

Heather Aubrey

Brian Cox

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Synopsis

Forty-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is practically a dinosaur by professional baseball standards, fast approaching the end of his career. But, as Chapel stands on the mound pitching the game of his life, his thoughts don't turn to his prized history in sports, but rather return again and again to his tumultuous relationship with Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston), a single mom who has stood at his side through the good and the bad but is now on the verge of leaving him.

Director: Sam Raimi
Producer: Amy Robinson, Armyan Bernstein
Screenwriter: Michael Shaara, Dana Stevens
Distributor: MCA/Universal Pictures [us], Universal Pictures, Universal Home Entertainment
Production Co: Beacon Communications, Tig Productions, Universal Pictures, Mirage Enterprises
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 17, 1999, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $35.2M
Runtime: 2h 17m
Sound Mix: Surround

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