Big Idea

• A Christian film with professional actors
• This is a fictional account of a baseball coach who was fired for praying on the field
• This movie showed overall professionalism, but could have a bit tighter editing
• Rated PG, with no violence or sex.
• Read more...

Running the Bases

Christian, faith-based movies are still a niche market.  Typically, the films have a slender budget, wooden acting, and overwrought writing.  But things are changing for the better, as demonstrated by "Running the Bases."

The movie makers filled the cast with professional actors, just not famous actors.  Brett Varvel plays the leading male role as a baseball coach.  He has an impressive screen presence.  He has a dozen roles on his sheet, including a small part in the recent "American Underdog."  In that film, a Christian man overcomes adversity to become a football champion.  It is the true story of Arizona Cardinal Kurt Warner.  That film was a biopic, more or less a true story.

The story in "Running the Bases" is fictional.  However, it closely parallels the true story of a Washington state football coach who the school fired for praying on the fifty-yard line after the end of high school football games.  The football coach, John Kennedy, was restored after a court battle that went to the Supreme Court.  In "Running the Bases," the coach ran afoul of a local ordinance, lost his job, and the local authorities tossed him in the clink.

Beautiful Gigi Orsillo, a professional actress, played the baseball coach's wife.

The acting, writing, direction, and overall professionalism are up to moviehouse standards, except for the editing.  The film ran for over two hours.  Some judicious editing would shorten that run time by fifteen minutes and improve the film's pace and power.

The faith message is constant and impactful throughout the film.  The significant characters make no mistake about their faith and take pains to live it.  These are not Sunday only, one day a week Christians.

Marty Roberts and Jimmy Womble wrote the script, and team directed the movie.  They have a slender list of projects in the movie world but did fine here.

"Running the Bases" gets an average three sawblades, losing a sawblade for editing.  It is not rated but would be rated at PG-13.  There are no bad words or sexual situations.  There are references to criminality.  Small children will not be interested in this movie.  This week's offering had a minuscule $3.3 million budget.  So far, it has only made $1.1 million at the box office.

People often tell me that movies these days have too much violence and sex.  This one has neither.