Trouble With the Curve

Is it always necessary to have the old guy in an old-guy movie struggle to take a piss so we know he’s old? Who doesn’t know Clint Eastwood is getting up there? That’s the first scene in Trouble With the Curve, and the rest of the movie is filled with more of the same—Clint’s eyes are going; his job as a baseball scout is on the line because he’s out of touch; he doesn’t trust computers because he’s a fossil. And in each of those scenarios, as well as the ones that could actually propel a movie that pairs Eastwood and Amy Adams, this film is empty. There’s nothing here from Eastwood that wasn’t more evident or profound in Million Dollar Baby or Gran Torino. Adams gives it a real go, but she’s just bullpen help in a game that got away from the starting pitcher.