Rookie of the Year

A relatively enjoyable kids' movie that will entertain the kids, but unsurprisingly may leave the adults cold. From the director of The Wonder Years, it doesn't break any new boundaries, but rather sticks with what he knows best, that is sentimental childhood comedies. Read full review

A warm, comic "what if" yarn, it's rife with humor and sentimentality but is just one run away from the game-winning score. Read full review

The phrase "by the numbers" was invented for the way Harper crafts this script. After coming up with a good notion, opening and close, he simply fills up the middle innings with the detritus of several decades of TV sitcoms and high-concept kid movies. [07 Jul 1993, p.F1]

Rookie of the Year is a wholly benevolent but banal baseball fantasy aimed at Little Leaguers with dreams of reaching big-time fields. Read full review

Rookie of the Year, which was directed by Daniel Stern from a script by Sam Harper, has an appealing central performance by Mr. Nicholas, who manages to be cocky without seeming obnoxious. As a summer diversion, the film has about as much substance as cotton candy. Read full review

First-time director Stern - Macaulay Culkin's punching bag in the Home Alone films - gives a broad performance as the pitching coach who knows nothing about baseball. Approach with aspirin. Read full review

Rookie isn’t a bad movie. It’s also not good. Read full review

Kids will certainly enjoy the basic idea, and pre-teens will clearly relate to Nicholas, whose awkward puberty - complete with vocal cords warbling from soprano to baritone - is just right for the role. But even he is ultimately annoying, leaving only Busey's laid-back, natural performance to hint of what this film could have been in more confident hands. [07 Jul 1993, p.E3]

This is one of the silliest plots since Disney cast Gus the mule as the star place-kicker for a hapless football team. Although it sounds like a whimsical throwback to Gus and another classic of the genre, The Absent Minded Professor, Rookie of the Year fails to connect. [09 Jul 1993, p.G4]