You only get one shot at greatness, and if that one chance slips through your fingers, it’s game over. Or is it? After years of retirement from pro sports, Stan Ross is about to discover that there are such things as second chances in sports, in love, and in life but first, you’ve got to undo the mistakes that fouled you up the first time around. Ten years ago, Stan Ross was a pro ballplayer blessed with one of the sweetest swings and one of the worst attitudes in the league. A man with big talent, a bigger mouth and an even bigger ego, he was clearly on his way to becoming a legend. The day he batted his 3,000th hit, assuring him of an eventual place in the Hall of Fame, Ross instantly quit the game, leaving his teammates in the lurch. Never looking back, Ross began his ‘Mr. 3000’ shopping empire, fueling his self-satisfaction solely with that one magical number. But now, just as Ross is about to be voted at last into the Hall of Fame, an error is discovered: the man who thought he was ‘Mr. 3000,’ is actually . . . ‘Mr. 2,997.’ Three hits shy of the landmark number, Ross has only one choice: get up off the couch, pick up his bat and rejoin the Milwaukee Brewers for the most unlikely comeback sports has ever seen. Literally going back to first base, Ross has no idea what he’s in for. Out of shape, over the hill and in deep denial, he quickly becomes a joke to the press, the bane of his teammates and a juicy story to Mo Simmons, the tough-minded reporter who once had a memorable fling with Ross back in the day. But just as Ross thinks it’s all about the numbers, he finally begins to see what really counts. Soon, the cocky, self-absorbed, ego machine is trying a different tactic: discovering the fun of teamwork, ethics and even falling in love...as he learns the difference between a successful life and a meaningful one.

The problem with the film is not entirely its own fault, the problem is that this film has been done to often and there is really nothing left to offer. But the film makers should have known if you are going to do this kind of movie you have to bring something new an inventive to the film and they didn’t. They figured they could just cast Bernie Mac in a role that is similar to all the films that came before it (think Major League) and because people find Bernie funny the movie would be funny. It just doesn’t work that way, we have seen the feel good sports flick about the underdog trying to overcome all odds way too often. Or the once bad ass turning soft and going good (this doesn’t happen in real life guys like Barry Bonds will always be a jerk just like some of the great baseball players who lived their whole lives as jerks). You cannot sell an audience fiction if you do not at least have the conviction to believe the lie yourself. The movie does have its funny moments as it quite hilarious to watch Bernie Mac try to get in shape to play baseball again. That’s the problem the first half of the movie is funny, the second half is nothing but one big cliché as it falls into all the sappiness of sport flicks. So its like watching half a movie, you laugh the first half and then our bored by the second half as it gets all serious and tries to sell you a lie and an overplayed genre. That why it gets the middle ground of scores on my review not to mention Mr. 3000 sound like a toilet bowl cleaner.
2.5 stars out of 5