Athletes often face a rough mid-life period as their skills diminish and their careers wind down, since their sport so defines who and what they are. This topic has great potential for drama and poignancy, yet few good films have been made on the subject. This movie has a beautifully sad central love story, with aging minor league ballplayer Billy Wyatt (Mark Harmon) remembering the (then) older woman who inspired him so many years before (Jodie Foster), and trying to come to terms with the route his career and life have taken. So, he returns to his hometown, connects with his high school best friend (Harold Ramis) and starts looking into his past for answers, while much of the film plays out in flashback, recounting his bittersweet teen years, when everything was ahead of him but his own goals and motivations were elusive. What makes the film watchable is the complexity of the central relationship, as the mature Billy realizes that the most important woman in his life arrived when he was too young to appreciate her.

The movie is quite beautiful to look at with its clean-scrubbed view of small town life and high school sports, and the characters are engaging to follow. This is not a great movie by any means. Like Billy Wyatt himself, this one just misses hitting the major leagues, but it IS enjoyable in a low key way, and the lack of interesting movies on this potentially interesting subject makes it a bit special.

Unlike what most people think, Stealing Home is not a remake or a retelling of the Summer of 42. It is in fact, something better and just as universal. A coming of age drama, besides moments of sexual matter, is a decent movie for any mature (13+) audience. In my opinion, Silverman's character takes away from the main story between Jodie Foster and Thacher Goodwin. For mere comic relief, Silverman could have had more of if not equal amount of character development. Instead, he pops in and out of the main characters life to tell a joke or two. All in all, a good movie. An like always, Jodie Foster is the forever princess of innocence

This is one of my favorite movies and I own a copy of it. Everything about it is wonderful. I love the beautiful soundtrack which complements the beautiful ocean front backdrop and the nostalgic, emotional and romantic feeling of the movie. The theme song "When She Danced" is one of my favorite songs of all time and I don't think it's cheesy. The movie just captures so many feelings perfectly. You just want to be there living the experiences of these characters at this wonderful, albeit sad, time in there lives. I can't seem to put into words how I feel about this movie and that's mostly because that's what this movie is, something that you can't really touch. It just writes like a bittersweet poem. I make it sound so cheesy but you can't help it with this movie, it's just so deeply moving. But it's not cheesy, it's very real with very real characters. I give it a 10.

p.s. It's not just a chick flick. There's enough baseball dreams and adolescent fantasies to keep any guy happy.