Knuckleball! | |
---|---|
Directed by |
Ricki Stern Anne Sundberg |
Produced by | Dan Cogan, Christine Schomer, Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg |
Starring |
Tim Wakefield R. A. Dickey |
Music by | Paul Brill |
Distributed by | Amelia & Theo Films, FilmBuff |
Release dates |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Knuckleball! is a 2012 documentary film that follows the 2011 seasons of Tim Wakefield and R. A. Dickey, Major League Baseball's only knuckleball pitchers that year. [1] It was released in theaters on September 20, 2012, and on DVD on April 2, 2013. [2] Wakefield won his 200th game in 2011 and Dickey won the 2012 Cy Young Award.
Stern and Sundberg's previous documentary was Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. [3] They had also previously directed the documentary The Devil Came on Horseback about the War in Darfur. [4]
The film sets up the 2011 season by showing how the knuckleball saved both pitchers from obscurity. [1] Dickey moved his family 37 times before landing with the New York Mets. [4] The film presents Wakefield's chase of his 200th win as a member of the 2011 Red Sox and Dickey's make-it-or-break-it season with the 2011 Mets. [3] It demonstrates the fraternal nature of knuckleball pitchers who trade tips of the trade via various meetings with the likes of Phil Niekro and Charlie Hough. [1] [3] Dickey won the Cy Young Award in November 2012. [5] [6]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 14/10. [2] On Metacritic the film scored 73 out of 100 based on 9 reviews. [7]
Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times, noted that the film's release coincided with Dickey's Cy Young run, which made the "first-rate sports documentary" especially sweet. [1] The Boston Globe's Ty Burr said "The movie's a must for baseball fans in general and Red Sox fans in particular". [3] Even the film's harshest critics such as Time Out's David Fear says "Viewers who can’t get enough of ESPN's " 30 for 30" docs will lap up this dual portrait", but continued to say that "Nonfans, however, are about to find out exactly what the phrase inside baseball means." [8]