Kernel Rating (out of 5): 
MPAA Rating: PG-13 Length: 114 minutes
Age Appropriate for: 13+. The film is about an alcoholic baseball player who hits rock bottom, but it’s also a faith-based production, so there’s no cursing or sexual scenes (however, there is the suggestion of other kinds of addictions, like drug addiction and sex addiction). The heavy emotional themes about an abusive father and a self-loathing son are the most serious things at play here. Ultimately “Home Run” is clearly meant to be a kind of “message” movie for a Christian family, and it works best (and perhaps only?) for that kind of audience.
The message of ‘Home Run,’ that religion and faith can help turn your life around, are certainly fine, if you’re into that kind of thing. But the film’s insistence on a very particular kind of healing—the Celebrate Recovery program, like a way more Christian Alcoholics Anonymous—makes ‘Home Run’ come off more like an infomercial than a legitimately genuine film about getting your life back on track.
By Roxana Hadadi
Jackie Robinson’s biopic “42” last week; “Home Run” this week—baseball-lovers are getting a lot of films specifically for them this April. But “42” and “Home Run” actually have more in common than just the baseball diamond—they’re also both fairly whitewashed, glossy and slick when they should be gritty and dark.
