Having recently delivered middlebrow stodge like Invictus, Hereafter and J. Edgar from the director’s chair, it’s been a while since Clint Eastwood has had a chance to chew some scenery. With directing duties left to longtime collaborator Robert Lorenz, Eastwood steps in front of the camera once more, finding the same ardent growl that made Gran Torino such an enjoyable boilermaker of a film. Unfortunately, Trouble with the Curve is as toothless as the man himself, a catatonic baseball drama that suffers from the same mouldy traditionalism championed in Eastwood’s cranky talent scout.

Other baseball analogies also available.