Basically the latest version of “Thank God For White People”, but with a refreshing twist. We all know this story. A group of underpriveleged kids are taken on by an adult, lives are changed, drama ensues, uplifting ending. But there’s an original twist to this one, a twist I both greatly enjoyed and just as greatly appreciated. Usually, it’s the teacher (or coach, or whatever) who reaches down from some “educated” or “higher” place and imparts his/her wisdom to the poor struggling (read: ethnic) kids, thus "saving" their lives. But in Hardball it’s not the kids’ lives that are saved, but the teacher’s…

From the first shot, we know what Conor O’Neil is: baggage. A gambler, a shiftless layabout, a bottom-feeder, basically worthless. What else can we think about a guy who uses his father’s death to weasel money out of people? He couldn’t care less about anyone but himself, and takes on the chore of coaching a Little League team for the express purpose of paying back the bookies who’d like to kill him. But Keanu manages to find the kernel of worth in the guy and, mainly through the action of his eyes and the way he handles Conor’s outbursts of violence, brings a believable quality to him. It’s that aspect of balance, the dark and the (admittedly pretty buried) light, that made Conor someone I wanted to see survive…

The kids are an interesting bunch. I was thankful that they weren’t the kind of “grab-bag” too easily found in these films: one of each kind of person, eventually gelling despite gaps too wide to be jumped by a polevaulter. No, these kids are similar enough that, even with the infighting, it was easy to accept that they pulled together into a team. A couple of them, G-Baby and Jamal especially, had some great moments (watch Jamal’s eyes when his friend, with a casual “what’s up”, tries to understand what has happened to him ? astounding). And I didn’t have any quibbles with the language thing. It was used in a humorous way, and the filmmakers weren’t trying to make some solemn point about the kids’ “desperate circumstances” with it. It was just the way they talked, no big deal. Hell, it was the way Conor talked! His standard response to any uncomfortable moment is a resounding “F*ck you!” Charming guy…

I was less impressed with the relationship between Conor and the teacher, Ms. Wilkes. It’s not a romantic one, though Conor would like it to be. It’s more of a coworker relationship, though not really, since Conor isn’t at all interested in work of any kind. But I didn’t see a whole lot of fire in Diane Lane’s performance. It may have been the director’s choice, but I felt she kind of laid back on it…

Also, I was made a bit uncomfortable by the way the director chose to lay on the danger with a butterknife. Did we really need 15-20 hoods hanging around the outside of each project building? Three or four toughs would have been plenty. How did these kids survive even a month, let alone a life, having to run that gauntlet every time they went in or out of the building? I suppose the director was trying to lay the groundwork for the inevitable tragedy, but a subtle build would have served the story better. After all, the shape of the story and its familiarity made what was coming inescapable already; no need to write it in neon...

The parallel story, about Conor’s gambling and where it leads him, really fascinated me. In a story like this, the deeper the hole a character is dug into, the more we pull for him (and with him) as he’s making the effort, and the more triumph we feel when he makes it out. And here Keanu quite convinced me. There is a scene in which you watch him literally see his life being torn out of his hands, and the panic and defeat are palpable. Keanu has developed quite an agility in his eyes, and a unique talent for using them to convey what he elects not to with his body. In The Replacements (his best work as an actor, in my opinion), it was that moment of “I knew it ? I knew it was too good to be true. I knew I’d fail”. Here the moment conveyed is that of a man whose desperation blinds him to the waste he’s made of his life, grasping at the same damn straws in a mistaken belief that this time it’ll work. The way the scene eventually turns out might make you forget that moment, but its impact is felt throughout the rest of the film. Yeah, he makes it out, but in a surprising turnaround, he gets the message…

And it’s that desperation, that end-of-the-rope feeling that Keanu conveys so well, that leads me back to what I really loved about this film. Conor doesn’t come to these kids from any kind of height. He has no wisdom to impart, no magic fairy dust to sprinkle on this team, just by virtue of his being white in contrast to their being black. There’s no sense of “Oh, these poor kids, someone must help them!” ? he couldn’t give a rat’s ass. He wouldn’t be there at all if he had a choice. When he finally does make the reach, he doesn’t reach down, he reaches across ? the divide is wide (though not as wide as he, or we, think) but it’s on the same level. He and the kids are equally conversant with violence and danger, equally familiar with fear, equally at home with poverty and life on the street. Through the experience they share, the kids’ lives are bettered, most definitely, but it’s Conor who is saved.

Go see it when it comes out. You won’t be sorry.

P.S. Oh yeah, one more thing: Keanu looked like sh*t. But he was meant to. Dirty, red-eyed, sallow-skinned, he grimaced, twitched and smoked too much. He threw back whiskey shots like Kool-Aid, and growled at anyone who threatened his self-devouring, sour outlook. Not attractive at all, in fact highly unpleasant. In other words, he nailed it. Another solid characterization. This guy rocks!