The Little League World Series is going on right now in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.  It’s the culmination of a long summer of playing ball all across the United States and around the world. There are plenty of stories surrounding this great event each year. Some have been documented in various forms. One of those is the story that takes place in You Gotta Believe. I remember this story from back in 2002 and it’s a very inspiring one.

Coach Jon Kelly (Greg Kinnear), a small-town lawyer as well, has all but given up on his little team from Fort Worth, Texas. They are the worst team in the league. His assistant coach Bobby Ratliff (Luke Wilson) still believes in the kids and the town.  Something terrible happened to him and he had to go to the hospital. He ends up getting a bad diagnosis which changes his life. At the same time unbeknownst to Wilson’s character, Kinnear’s character gets a chance at redemption.  The head of the Little League offers him a chance to coach the all-star from the area for a chance at getting to the Little League World Series. At first, he turns the offer down until the kids convince him to do it for Bobby, Wilson’s character.

I am a big fan of inspirational sports stories. You never know where these stories are going to come from. This one happens to involve Little League baseball and a small town in Texas. Like a lot of inspirational stories, this one has obstacles that the main characters have to overcome on and off the field. The illness of the Wilson character is the crux of the story which makes it move forward. It’s a very good subplot to this movie, but it’s not the only thing this film has going for it.

Besides the two main characters, the movie has a handful of kids that make the story better. Mikey one of the coach’s sons, Robert another coach’s son, Chris Mexican kid, Mark who cares about looking at Caroline, one of his teammates’ sister, on the bleachers, Walker Wilson’s character’s son Scooter, a dorky kid with glasses, he’s the one with the pretty sister. These kids are a ragtag group, but they have heart. A little bit of training in hitting, throwing, and fielding can make all the difference for them.

This team reminded me of a classic 70s sports film “The Bad News Bears”. They have a motto that helps them through “Baseball Is Fun”, With this and a popular Western song  “Rawhide”  they start to put it together. A montage of wins through the summer is shown. This helps the viewers to follow along with the inspirational story of these boys, their coaches, and the small Texas town they represent.  These elements add a nice flavor to the story.

Greg Kinnear has long passed the days in his career when he was playing Oscar-nominated characters in big awards-contending films like Something’s Gotta Give and Little Miss Sunshine. He has fallen into these types of inspirational films. This is a good lane for him. The last one I saw him in was Sight. It was quite emotional, to say the least. Luke Wilson on the other hand has been in a bunch of television shows like Stargirl. After a career full of raunchy comedies he too has fallen into these types of inspirational movies like 12 Mighty Orphans and now this one. These two were a perfect pair to play these characters opposite one another. They fit the roles at this point in their careers.

You Gotta Believe is a pretty straightforward inspirational sports story. If my memory serves me right it’s pretty on the nose regarding how the story is told. The director Ty Roberts captured these events very well. Have I seen better sports Movies? Yes!, but this one has a soft spot in my heart because I remember watching it transpire twenty or so years ago. The kids were all fantastic as far as kids go in movies. They weren’t anything too special, but they served the purpose they were needed for. This movie is coming out at the right time coinciding with the Little League World Series.  As a central- Floridian I’m rooting for the Lake Mary team. As a film fan, I couldn’t help but root for this little movie.

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen