Movie Madness Monday: A League of Their Own

I'm not sure exactly how I came to be such a sports fan in my 20s, it's not something I would ever have expected based on all of my previous years of apathy outside of tennis and international soccer.  Now I'm practically rabid at the start of the college and professional football seasons while in deep denial of the end of the summer tennis season.  (Go Nadal!)

One sport that I've still maintained just an outside interest in is baseball.  I played softball when I was younger, went to a single Mets game via a college excursion, and have kept tabs on the Texas Rangers as they've come tantalizingly close to winning the World Series twice in a row.  I could also maintain a fluent conversation in some of the larger talking points of the sport due to my high intake of ESPN.  But it's safe to say that I love this movie about baseball more than I love baseball itself.

I can quote 'A League of their Own' the way some people can rattle of statistics memorized from the back of a player's trading card.  My best friend owned this movie when I was a kid, so it was often our entertainment of choice.  It's not on Netflix Instant, but it is certainly on DVD and in my collection now.

This is one of the great examples of the sports movie genre, telling the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League which was started in an attempt to keep raking in ticket sales while all of the male players were off fighting in World War Two.  So, again, you've got some friendly feminism, and there's even a little random knitting thrown in.  It was the 40s, after all, and these athletes also had to be domestic goddesses.

From the dairy farm where the Hinson sisters are recruited to the climactic World Series, there is some drama involved here, but the best parts are the comedy.  In fact, I could easily just watch the amazing middle of this movie and ignore the end.  I'm not going to spoil the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.  But for those who have, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who feels the way that this Entertainment Weekly writer does.

Aside from that, though, this is one of those perfect, easy-to-watch movies that you can watch any time, and it doesn't matter whether you pop it into the DVD player or catch it halfway through on TV, you'll get sucked in.  You know how some movies you need to be in a particular kind of headspace for?  This one is pretty much suited for all moods.

For more movie reviews, go to Amaryllis Musings.