Themes: Baseball Players, Coaches and Players, Stop the Wrecking Ball
Main Cast: Sean Astin, Powers Boothe, Rachael Leigh Cook, James Gammon, Larry Miller
Release Year: 2007
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
A place where baseball is more than just a game fights to hold on to the national pastime in this drama inspired by a true story. Norway, Iowa is a little town where folks take baseball seriously -- so much so that even though Norway's high school boasts less than a hundred students, their baseball team has brought home the state championship nineteen times. Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe), Norway High's baseball coach, has received national attention for his skill with players, and when passionate baseball fan Kent Stock (Sean Astin) lands a teaching position nearby, he volunteers to work as an assistant for Van Scoyoc. While Stock cherishes his time with Van Scoyoc, he takes a job working in Saint Louis, where he plans to move with his fiancée. However, he changes his plans when he gets some unexpected news -- due to shrinking enrollment and budget cuts, Norway's high school is soon to close, and their upcoming baseball season is likely to be their last. Over the fierce objections of his girlfriend, Stock passes on the job in St. Louis to spend one last spring in Norway and help Van Scoyoc as he takes one last shot at taking his team to the state championship. Meanwhile, the citizens of Norway wage a legal battle to keep the school open, and the state sends a lawyer, Polly Hudson (Rachael Leigh Cook), to Norway to represent them. While Stock and Hudson are bitter enemies at the start of the season, with time she begins to understand the sense of tradition and love of the game that fuels Stock and the people of Norway. Also featuring Larry Miller, Tom Arnold and Michael Angarano, The Final Season received its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Marshall Bell - Harvey Makepeace; Tom Arnold - Burt Akers; Michael Angarano - Mitch Akers; Lucinda Jenney - Sheryl Van Scoyoc; Angela Paton - Anne Akers; Brett Claywell - Patrick Iverson; Danielle Savre - Cindy Iverson; Dayton Callie - Mr. Stewart; Nick Livingston - Kevin Stewart; Roscoe Myrick - Sammy Wilson; MacKenzie Astin - Chip Dolan; Alexander Roos - Steve Myers
Credit
Barry Gelber - Art Director, Terry Trimpe - Associate Producer, Vaughan Halyard - Associate Producer, Rosemary Welden - Casting, Lynn Brannelly-Newman - Costume Designer, James Grayford - First Assistant Director, David Mickey Evans - Director, Rob Miller - Second Unit Director, Harry Keramidas - Editor, Sean Astin - Executive Producer, Carl Borack - Executive Producer, Kenneth Burke - Line Producer, Nathan Wang - Composer (Music Score), Chester Kaczenski - Production Designer, Daniel J. Stoloff - Cinematographer, Herschel Weingrod - Producer, Tony Wilson - Producer, Michael Wasserman - Producer, Steven Schott - Producer, D. Parker Widemire, Jr. - Producer, Mary Jo Devenney - Sound/Sound Designer, Jim Wilkey - Stunts Coordinator, James Grayford - Screenwriter, Art D'Alessandro - Screenwriter, Kelly Sandefur - Visual Effects Supervisor, Amit Dhawal - Visual Effects Supervisor, Kenny Gorrell - Special Effects Coordinator, Mammoth Visual Effects - Visual Effects, Karen Agresti - Set Decorator
The true story of Kent Stock (Sean Astin), who in the early 1990s, takes the job of a lifetime as head coach of the Norway High School baseball team, a school which had won 19 State titles and equated baseball with life. Kent must win over his players and convince them and himself that he can fill their former coach's shoes all while dealing with the reality that this will be the team's final season due to an impending merger with a nearby school.
In the summer of 1991 Norway High's baseball tradition ended on a triumphant but somber note.
The Final Season received mainly negative to mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a "Rotten" rating of 25%, based on 40 reviews.[2] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 44 out of 100, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".[3] The film grossed $1,159,691 in the USA.
Production notes
Sports action was by Rob Miller of ReelSports.
Amy Acker and Eliza Dushku were at one point cast in the role of Polly, but both dropped out because of scheduling conflicts.
