The team can win, lose, or tie. That's it. Sports movies have no other options. It's something that really defeats the purpose of filming one in the first place. If it's a true story, then it's excusable. "Mr. 3000" is not so you can easily fault it for falling into the rut that so many of these films do. If it tried to do anything different it might be worthwhile, but it doesn't.
Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) ends his professional baseball career the very day he gets his 3,000th hit. Expecting to be in the Hall of Fame, a statistician discovers three of those hits don't count due to a scoring error revolving around a delayed game. Now 47, Ross must come back after a nine-year hiatus to not only try and secure his spot in Cooperstown, but to reclaim a stat he believes is his.
Bernie Mac is always fun. He's got energy, personality, and a wild sense of humor. What he doesn't have here is a great movie. It's not bad, just predictable. It's not really the scripts fault or anything to do with the director. This genre is just so tired and worn out, there's nothing left to do with it.
If it makes you laugh, then all could be forgiven. It tries to draw most of its humor from Stan's cocky attitude, but any sports fan has seen all of this before, whether it is in another movie or on the field. It's not like athletes like him don't exist. The supporting cast has very little to do and very little screen time. The entire movie is, obviously, squarely focused on Mac, leaving little room for anyone else. Angela Bassett is fine as the love interest, just pray she never lands a spot as an ESPN news anchor.
Speaking of ESPN, product placement here is brutal, as the camera always seems to linger a bit too long on any given product. Some of this is fine (ESPN adds a layer of authenticity); the rest of it is shameless. The funniest thing is probably that the film ends with the Viagra logo right in the corner of the screen, Ross doing an advertisement for the drug. Yes, it's a joke that plays in with an earlier scene; it's just that with all the rest of the placements, it's too much.
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