National pastime

42

Crit

Been leery of this one, afraid that the schmaltz would just be too gooey. Well, the schmaltz is certainly thick--every character is, you should pardon the expression, either black or white, the shades or gray reserved for Jackie Robinson's teammates as they evolve from grudging tolerance to respect to admiration and acceptance--but it's also irresistible.

It's a joy to watch Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey and John C. McGinley as Red Barber, but the soul of the film is Nicole Beharie as Rachel Robinson--and the heart of its credibility, too: the joshing, erotic interplay Chadwick Boseman's Jackie enjoys with his wife let us see the foundation of the player's ability to go through what he has to go through to be the man and the icon he's called upon to be.