Mr. 3000 Movie Review:


Mr. 3000 is a mild formulaic sports film that is being passed off as a comedy, even though it is more of drama. The talented Bernie Mac finally gets a vehicle film, but his character is so unlikable that it is at times hard to route from him.

Mac plays Milwaukee Brewers slugger Stan Ross, who is a self-centered egomaniac that is on the verge of joining the elite 3,000 hit club in baseball history. Being a part of the 3,000 hit club is pretty much an automatic bid into the cherished Baseball Hall of Fame. The media hates Ross; he disgusts his teammates, and though they cheer his on the field production the fans do not really nourish him.

After getting his 3,000 hit, Ross quits on his team in the middle of an intense pennant race without any regrets. The film then flashes forward nine years later, where Ross has made “Mr. 3000” his trademark and gotten richer by using the name to open up a shopping mall that has a Chinese buffet and a sports bar among other things. With the votes for the Hall of Fame approaching, a statistical error is counted that leaves Ross three hits short of 3,000.

Now at the age of 47 and out of shape, Ross rejoins the Brewers for the last 27 games of their current season to collect his final three hits. The team currently sits in fifth place and though the roster is composed of different players, Ross’ isolated old coach Panas (Paul Sorvino) does not forget how he left the team nine years ago. Ross’ old flame, Mo Simmons (Angela Bassett), also rejoins his life as a reporter for ESPN covering his comeback. Hailed as the laughing stock of baseball and of his team after starting out 0 for 27 at the plate in his return, Ross begins to change for the better. He sees his old self in a cocky young homerun hitter named Pennebaker (Brian J. White) and begins to mentor him as well as the team. However, as the season winds down, Ross only has a few more weeks to win the love of his life, help his team finish respectively, and to become “Mr. 3000.”

There is nothing in this entire film that audiences have not seen before in a sports movie. The film is not necessarily bad; it is just moderate across the board. Charles Stone III, who previously delivered the sleeper hit Drumline, directs the film. With Drumline, Stone created an energetic spark from the world of college bands; it seems with Mr. 3000 that he was winded because there is nothing fresh in any of his choices. The baseball scenes are lame and more than anything unrealistic and most of the jokes strike out. However, the majority of the film’s dramatic elements are played out well, especially in the final 20 minutes of the film. Stone and his group of three screenwriters (Eric Champnella, Keith Mitchell, and Howard Michael Gould) also portray Ross as such a jerk, which a lot of professional sports players are, that audiences may not route for him at all even though Bernie Mac’s grin is irresistible. In sports movies, the supporting characters are usually the memorable ones, but in Mr. 3000 there are absolutely none. There is a Japanese pitcher that does not use curse words correctly, a competitive pair that play the infield and then the impudent slugger Pennebaker. There might have been more originality to this film with solid supporting characters; even Angela Bassett’s reporter does not help much. Supporting characters like Dennis Haysbert’s Jo-Boo worshipping Cerrano in Major League or Tim Robbin’s dreaming of pitching in his underwear character from Bull Durham are examples of supporting assistance that this film desperately needed.

Mac is a very talented comedic actor and though it is difficult at times to like him in this film, he does flex his dramatic muscles towards the conclusion. Mac is an applicable choice to play a character like “Mr. 3000,” it is just too bad the film falters. Angela Bassett is still sexy even at her age and she does what she can with her role as reporter Mo Simmons. She and Mac share solid chemistry, which does give the film a needed shine. The rest of the cast is pretty much underused, which includes Paul Sorvino as the unspeaking Brewers coach and Chris Noth as a publicizing executive.

Mr. 3000 may be a workable video rental or a film to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon on cable. There just are not many laughs and the film is something that has been played out continuously in the sports movie genre. Bernie Mac deserves to headline films, but this one just does not equate too well.

Grade: C

Bailey Henderson

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