Major League (1989)

(On TV, March 2020) There is nothing new in Major League, and that’s probably what explains its charm. Yet another baseball underdog comedy, this one features a calculating team owner who deliberately sets out to put together the worst players she can find in order to have an excuse to move the team to another city. This naturally strong comic premise leads to a collection of supporting oddballs and lead characters with overblown problems. The decision to go for an R rating allows the film to distinguish itself with plenty of spicy language and risqué situations. Still, Major League would have been better had it featured even a few surprises: as it is, it’s an underdog sports comedy that ends like you’d expect it to end, with all characters have resolved their issues along the way. Added fun comes from spotting actors who would become even bigger stars later on: the then-ascendant Charlie Sheen is quite good as the bespectacled “Wild Thing,” while Wesley Snipes, Dennis Haysbert and Rene Russo have good early roles. The humour can be coarse at times but never too gross or off-putting, which does help a lot in making this an approachable R-rated comedy. Major League plays familiar riffs and still does it reasonably well, and sometimes that’s all a movie needs to win.