I just watched a review copy of The Yankles, available now for pre-order. From the press release:

Winner of nine film festival awards, THE YANKLES is anything but your typical baseball movie. Starring Don Most (Ralph Maph in “Happy Days,” The Great Buck Howard) and Bart Johnson (High School Musical franchise), THE YANKLES slides into homes on June 5 on Blu-ray and DVD from Magnolia Home Entertainment.

When a down-and-out ex-baseball player, Charlie Jones (Brian Wimmer), needs to meet his community service hours as a coach and no one wants him, it takes an obscure orthodox yeshiva baseball team to get him to see the light. The humorous match made in heaven has both Charlie and a group of aspiring rabbis reaching unexpected triumphs which result in entrance to the college world series. With the championship victory in sight, will The Yankles and Charlie Jones be able to overcome their differences and achieve the ultimate grand slam victory?

The movie tells the story of redemption on many levels. There is baseball failure, personal failure, moral failure, and family failure, with various characters working to right those failures. The movie also explores the theme of learning. The coach needs to learn a new culture, including how to swear in Yiddish. The students need to learn to play the game properly. I liked how the students helped each other trading baseball knowledge for help in the classroom.

There were some funny scenes. After their first victory, the team is back at the coaches apartment. They’re sitting around talking about their first time…playing baseball. The first time the coach uses signs, the players find a unique solution to understanding them. The Purim party is a blast, and provides one of the most poignant moments in the film.

It’s not a perfect film. I would have liked to see a little more adversity in the characters search for redemption. The heavy drinking ball player never gets tempted by alcohol, even when things are going bad or he finds himself in a bar. The team doing so well that they make the playoffs seems very unrealistic, given their lack of talent and knowledge of the game early on.

The movie is a nice way to pass two hours, however. It reminds us that baseball transcends cultures, and can bring people together. You may even learn a little Yiddish before it’s done.