Eastwood returns to Acting and Faces Aging and Family Resentment Issues

Eastwood plays Gus,  a top baseball scout losing his sight.. Having lived a rugged , rag tag,  cheap life on back roads of the South searching for the next Babe Ruth or Sandy Koufax, the skills acquired over decades have been challenged by computer statistics that do not incorporate the prospects personality and penchants which can only be seen by watching the prospect at bat.

Rapidly evolving throw-away society has devalues the worth of “old timers.” Eastwood lays out both sides of the equation. Gus' eyesight has weakened, but not his instinct for selecting future major league players.

Macho, gravel voiced Eastwood hits one to the Award season green seats in center field depicting the plight and struggle of a senior not ready for retirement. Gus has built his sizzling reputation for selecting young talent based  on exceptional observation skills, a touch of emotional acknowledgement and a bond of trust with the front office.

Counter balancing this occupational adapt to the demand chronicle rivets his estranged   family  matters which continually simmer from decades of miscommunication fueled by fears of not confronting difficult emotions and uttering the delicate words with which to express them. That’s where his crusty, crass and stubbornly cruel hearted “what’s best” did not include input.

Having lost his wife when his daughter Mickey (played by Amy Adams) was barely six, she has grown up facing an angry, distant, apparently rejecting father. She’s responded with a path opposite his cigar smoking, frugal, rural Carolina mountain independence; instead, she’s a confident, tailored-suit wearing, six day week big city  workaholic corporate lawyer, whose business skill requires the art of manipulation and standing  equal to swearing, smoking and farting senior partners.

Adams admirably brandishes and retorts  harsh one liners tit for tat with Eastwood, who adds , “I don’t need easier,” to his “make my day” ensemble. Though hard as concrete, both characters have vulnerabilities in their hard won styles of independence, which dictate “helping” only when necessary and until the individual has recovered and adjusted their sense of self confidence.

Eastwood himself has been known as a man of few personal words, so it’s difficult to separate Gus’ rascally self-serving traits from glimpses into the industry icon’s own life. “Curve’s” exceptional cast overcome any scripting cliché excess. And, the story provides a somber insight into the emotions of father and daughter caught unintentional emotional damage from not sharing insights into major family decisions.

Credit Adams for the ease with which she slides from corporate politically correct to strong determined female in a dusty road, flea bag motel, and smoky bar talent scouting lifestyle particularly her pool game, ignoring of flattery, and blending with the culture, which she always thought was “the best seat” in the small baseball stadiums.She's personally and emotively on target responding her stubborn dad's rash of one liners. She serves them back with sarcastic ease. And, a few terse statements on growing older go into the can along with his "make my day" assortment.

Watch carefully for a final scene which has family irony. Clint’s son makes a cameo for brief advice from dad.