The Rookie

The Rookie (2002)

  • 84% of critics liked it
    (152 reviews)

  • 68% of users liked it
    (60,225 ratings)

The true story of a middle-aged baseball rookie comes to the screen from Finding Forrester (2000) screenwriter Mike Rich and the studio behind the previous year's equally inspirational sports drama Remember the Titans (2001). Twelve years ago, the pro baseball aspirations of Texas pitcher Jim… More

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G,
Directed By
Written By
Mike Rich
Genres
Drama
In Theaters
Mar 29, 2002 Wide
Buena Vista Distribution Compa

Critic Reviews

  • Bruce Diones, New Yorker

    It's Quaid and his fellow actors, Rachel Griffiths and Brian Cox, who lift the film out of its intermittent doldrums, and together they deliver that rare thing: a nuanced sports movie.

  • Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

    Until The Rookie came along, I'd forgotten how good and smart a family film can be.

  • Joe Leydon, Variety

    Deftly constructed to stoke the baseball-phenom fantasies of coulda-shoulda-woulda middle-aged guys and fields-of-dreaming young diamond studs.

  • Hank Sartin, Chicago Reader

    All the uplift could easily get cloying, but director John Lee Hancock knows how to keep things in control, and the whole is surprisingly satisfying.

  • Trevor Johnston, Time Out

    If they gave an Oscar for Best Performance in a Mediocre Movie, Dennis Quaid should already be clearing his mantelpiece.

Read all 17 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Jeff "


    The Rookie is one of the few sports films that really doesn't do anything for me. The film is overly cliched and is more irritating and boring than anything else. I saw this film made it on the list of worst sports movies ever made. I can understand why. The film is very poorly… More

  • Jay H


    Life is perfect, isn't it? There are no hitches, and it just moves along perfectly. That's how life is, right? Well, maybe in a Disney movie, but that's not what makes a good film. When you think about it, it's the ups and downs in characters' lives that makes… More

  • danny d


    great, one of the great sports flicks

  • Jason S


    I'm a pretty big fan of Dennis Quaid so I watched it. It was pretty good. Not really original but it was nice to see.

  • Dannielle A


    I'm not going to lie... I shed a tear or two.

Read all 9 featured audience ratings

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Cast

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