The Final Season

Name: The Final Season
Genre: Drama, Sport
Released: October 12, 2007
Duration: 119 min
Rating: 43
Cast: Powers Boothe, Sean Astin

2007

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Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Ratings

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Ratings

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The Final Season

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Movie Details & Credits

Yari Film Group Releasing | Release Date: October 12, 2007 | PG

Starring: Powers Boothe, Sean Astin

Summary: The Final Season is based on the true story of a small-town baseball team facing insurmountable odds. Tradition in Norway, Iowa (pop. 586) can be summed up in one word: baseball. From father to son, generation to generation, this high-school David exists to defeat Goliaths 10 times its size. As coach Jim Van Scoyoc leads the team to itsThe Final Season is based on the true story of a small-town baseball team facing insurmountable odds. Tradition in Norway, Iowa (pop. 586) can be summed up in one word: baseball. From father to son, generation to generation, this high-school David exists to defeat Goliaths 10 times its size. As coach Jim Van Scoyoc leads the team to its 19th State title, it seems that following it with a 20th is a forgone conclusion. But the unexpected strikes when bureaucracy intercedes to merge the town with another. Petty jealousies and political designs conspire to rob Norway of its heritage and a 20th Championship. Making matters worse, coach Van Scoyoc is fired and replaced with a one-season assistant coach, Kent Stock--a move that seems to guarantee the team's failure. The Final Season is a film about the sudden nature of change, the identity of a small town, and the strength that brings out the best when we need it most. (Yari Film Group)… Expand

Director: David M. Evans

Genre(s): Drama, Sport

Rating: PG

Runtime: 119 min

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Critic Reviews

TV Guide Magazine Ken Fox

Yes it's as corny as Kansas in August, but this admittedly formulaic sports drama is base on a true story and has something important to say about the fate of many small Midwestern American towns whose popular sports teams fall victim to school consolidation. Read full review

Tim Grierson

Formulaic but not cynical, The Final Season has some sweet, thoughtful passages in what is otherwise just one more well-meaning inspirational sports movie. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

Exactly the formulaic, by-the-numbers movie it appears to be. These Tigers deserved better. Read full review

Ty Burr

The movie is decent and heartfelt, and it eventually settles into some sharp diamond action, but the small-town homilies are dropped like an anvil. If you thought 1993's "Rudy" was too spare and unsentimental, Final Season is for you. Read full review

John Anderson

There's not quite as much corn in The Final Season as there is in the Iowa farm fields that run through it, but it's close. Read full review

Scott Tobias

All these stereotypes are meant to exalt small-town values, but The Final Season is proof that it's hard to paint masterpiece in broad strokes. Read full review

Toddy Burton

Kind of "Hoosiers": Part 2. But the storytelling is so backassward that it’s impossible to care about any of the characters or really engage in the movie whatsoever. Read full review

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User Reviews

ToddB.

Oct 23, 2007

Never trust a movie critic. This was a good movie that my family and friends loved, so much that the audience all cheered at the end. Make an effort to see it you won't be sorry.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

GayleneR.

Feb 19, 2008

Great family film with terrific values and discussion points. If you love baseball it will push all your buttons.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

R.J.

Oct 14, 2007

The baseball scenes in this movie were a lot of fun! It was pretty hard to not get caught up in the energy and excitement, even if you knew the ending.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

ChadS.

Apr 16, 2008

Same nickname, different sport, but the same theme that ran through Kenneth A. Carlson's "Go Tigers!", the 2001 documentary about a small town's obsession with its football team, runs through "The Final Season", as well. Which is: People should get a life. When an Iowaian school Same nickname, different sport, but the same theme that ran through Kenneth A. Carlson's "Go Tigers!", the 2001 documentary about a small town's obsession with its football team, runs through "The Final Season", as well. Which is: People should get a life. When an Iowaian school board votes to shut down Norway High School and have it merge with a sister school, a bigger school, academics is brought up briefly, only given lip service, by a woman with two college-aged children, before much of the town hall hubbub returns to, and revolves around the tiny high school's decorated baseball team. In "Go Tigers!", we can see with alarming clarity how those sports-minded townsfolk have their priorities all mixed up. In a sports call-in show, one concerned football fan complains that the Masillion players are hitting the books too hard. The father of a Norway player in "The Final Season" attends his son's game against doctor's orders, despite the possibility of imminent death. "The Final Season" treats this unflagging loyalty as cute, not demented, but that's because this "Hoosiers" for baseball purists slathers on so much corn syrup, fanaticism gets sugar-coated. "The Final Season" doesn't see a problem with a culture that's centered around the fortunes of its high school sports teams. There's no sane person like the Barbara Hershey character in the David Anspaugh-directed film about Indiana high school basketball, who speaks as an advocate for education. In the postscript, no mention is made about the academic progress of the transplanted Norway student body. Like most people when it comes to academic institutions, "The Final Season" seems only concerned about the school's athletic programs. The bigger school, we learn, has yet to produce a championship season. But is that a tragedy, if the kids of Norway are receiving a better education?… Expand

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Tss5078

Jan 10, 2017

A baseball movie, based on a true story, Directed by the same guy who brought the Sandlot to life on the big screen, who could ask for more? Norway, Iowa, one of the smallest towns in the mid-west, with a fabled sports history. Their High School baseball team is one of the most successfulA baseball movie, based on a true story, Directed by the same guy who brought the Sandlot to life on the big screen, who could ask for more? Norway, Iowa, one of the smallest towns in the mid-west, with a fabled sports history. Their High School baseball team is one of the most successful high school baseball teams of all-time, and their coach, Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe), is a legend, who could be coaching in the Major Leagues if he wanted to. Small towns like Norway always have their fair share of problems, mainly money, and with this town near bankruptcy, they've agreed to merge with a larger town, which means only one last season of baseball in Norway, and without the expensive contract of coach Van Scoyoc. The coach eventually convinces his former assistant, Kent Stock (Sean Astin), to take over the team, and attempt to lead them to one last championship, but with the town about to disappear from the map, how will he motivate the players or the town to care? This is one of those stories that is as inspirational as it gets, and it should have been a fantastic movie, but it was not. I have never in my life seen a movie centered around a sport, that moves as slowly as this film does. The Final Season is full of heart to heart chats, court fights about the town, and of course Sean Astin's character. I enjoy Sean Astin, after all he is the star of my all-time favorite movie, but his character is this introvert, who is in way over his head to begin with, not to mention the fact that he's replacing this living legend. Astin or rather Astin portraying Stock was just boring, just once I would have liked to see the guy, explode, show some fire, be a real coach, because it was like watching a math teacher, coach a bunch of kids, that didn't really want to be there for much of the film. The Final Season is a great true story, but as a film, it's more talk than anything else, and fails to even come close to expectations.… Expand

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