On the way home from the movie I asked Siri how old Clint Eastwood was. It told me 82 years, 3 months and 21 days.

Gus (Clint Eastwood) is an aging baseball scout. In a world where players are picked by computers and online statistics, Gus seems like a fossil, sitting in the stands in high school games watching the promising players. He listens to the sounds of the ball hitting the bat and he hears talent. He knows that a faltering player just needs to see his mom more often. Show me how a computer can do this.

Gus lost his wife when she was 39 years old and his daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) was just six. Raising a young girl while living out of a suitcase, hanging out on baseball fields during the day and in bars and pool halls at night didn’t work out so well. Mickey was sent off to an aunt and uncle, then to boarding school, then to college. She grew up to become a lawyer with a promising career ahead of her. Just then, it became time to reconcile with her father.

Eastwood plays the very same crusty character he played in Gran Torino. He is impossible to be with, he abuses those he cares for, he is stubborn, and he has a hard time dealing with the realities of getting old.

Trouble With the Curve starts out a bit slow but builds up. I know nothing about baseball, but I enjoyed the movie and I learned a thing or two. And all the while, I was grateful to myself that I raised my kids right, that I was always there for them, that I am there for them now if they need me. That is not always the case with everyone, and that’s the moral of the Trouble With the Curve.

There was no empty chair next to Eastwood in this movie.

And the movie made my day.

Rating: ** 1/2