Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Light Comedy with a Little Bite from Bernie Mac., February 5, 2005
"Mr. 3000" is a sports comedy with a virtuous message that will satisfy light entertainment cravings. Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) is a former Milwaukee Brewer who retired from baseball as soon as he had achieved a career 3000 hits, guaranteeing him a place in the record books and a slew of endorsement deals. His teammates hated him. The press attacked him. But egotistical, self-obsessed Stan didn't care as long as he had 3000 hits and a shot at the Baseball Hall of Fame. 9 years later, when he is finally being seriously considered for entry into the Hall of Fame, a computational error that caused 3 of his hits to be counted twice is discovered. Stan only made 2997 hits! So he decides to return to baseball, at the age of 47, to get those 3 hits back. He finds that a lot of things have changed since he left the game. But his former love, sports journalist Maureen Simmons (Angela Bassett), is covering his story again. And the team's young, cocky, selfish, star player (Brian White) reminds Stan of himself.
Bernie Mac injects a little bite into this otherwise feel-good comedy. Stan Ross is obnoxious, but Mac makes him a basically lovable jerk. If you don't like Bernie Mac's persona, however, you won't like this. Stan is overbearing, but "Mr. 3000" is ultimately a sweet film about self-sacrifice with the occasional off-color comment to remind us that we are talking about professional athletes here. It's a fun movie if you're looking for something light.
The DVD: Bonus features include 3 featurettes, 3 extended sequences, 3 deleted scenes with optional director's commentary, outtakes (3 minutes), and an audio commentary by director Charles Stone III. "The Making of Mr. 3000" (15 minutes) features interviews with producer Maggie White, director Charles Stone, the principle cast, and the film's baseball advisor and baseball coordinator. Stone discusses his intentions and the sports shows featured in the film. The cast talk about their experiences with baseball and with training for the film. "Spring Training: The Extras' Journey" (10 minutes) follows the process of finding the extras to play baseball roles, some of whom were talented players drafted by pro teams in the past. Includes interviews with some of the extras. "Everybody Loves Stan" (3 1/2 minutes) is a sort of mock media production about the Stan Ross character using footage from the movie and a few soundbites from former pro baseball players. Charles Stone does a nice director's commentary that addresses technical, character, narrative, and thematic aspects of the film, clearly and coherently. Subtitles for the film are available in French and Spanish. Captioning is in English. And dubbing is available in French.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bernie Mack wasted again ...., October 3, 2004
Bernie Mack is such an explosively funny comedian (The Bernie Mack Show, Kings of Comedy, Ocean's 11), it makes me hope that he fires his agent so he won't make any more films like Mr. 3000. This Bernie Mack film is so bad, it not only wastes Mack's talents, but also those of Angela Bassett (from What's Love Got to Do With It to this ... ugh!) and Paul Sorvino as well. It's yet another one of those hackneyed sports movies where a talented, but selfish athlete finds redemption and becomes a team player at the end. You know the drill: he's cocky, but he's all alone because he's a jerk, he doesn't appreciate the woman who loves him, he finds salvation at the end, rallies the team to a big winning streak, blah, blah, blah, blah .... The film tries to be heartwarming and inspiring, but, in the end, all the false emotional minipulation does is take away Mack's edge, leaving an unfunny and jumbled mess.
Unfortunately, Bernie Mack is traveling down the same film road that Richard Pryor did. Namely, instead of using Mack's natural edginess and sharp humor to create a truly interesting, if negative, character, Mr. 3000 tries to make him softer and more sympathetic to make him palatable to mainstream audiences. The problem is that that isn't what Bernie Mack is all about. Look at Mack's performance in Kings of Comedy -- brash, very un-p.c. and very, very funny -- and contrast it with the soft, shapeless character he plays in 3000. The film doesn't have the guts to let Mack be purely nasty. And since the screenwriters didn't have the talent to believably show Mack's transformation from heel to hero, the result is a wishy-washy mess that smacks of phony emotion and manipulation. The producers should have just turned Mr. 3000 into a purely negative character a la Billy Bob Thornton in Mack's much better comedy Bad Santa and gone for the jugular instead of sanding off his rough edges and trying to get the audience to buy it.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good enough for me, February 10, 2005
Mr. 3000 may not bring in the laughs that you would expect from one of the original kings of comedy known as Bernie Mac, but the film has a very light hearted story that still makes it enjoyable for viewing. Mac is (Stan Ross), one of the greatest hitters in the league is out for that 3,000 hit. So does it make him a lovable hero in the eyes of the Milwaukee Brewer crowd? Not exactly. Ross was an ego manic that said how he felt no matter if the news reporters, fans, or little kids were present. The man was so full of himself that after he got that 3,000 hit, he quit the team right when they needed him the most, which was around playoff time. The staff, coaches, and players from the past and present hated his guts even more. Almost a decade later and on the edge of turning 50, Milwaukee Brewer president decided to retire his jersey and make him a nomination for the hall of fame as that would further lift up his ego. However, a report showed that 3 of his hits didn't count and he was no longer the 3,000 man. Stan does the only thing he knows how to do to keep his career in the record books, that was to come back to the game that he once mastered. Of course, the team or the coaches were not pleased to see him back especially after referring to them as little leaguers. Things got even worse, when Stan went 5 games striking out and the only player on the team not to get a hit. As he's trying to get back in shape and deal with the stress of being made fun of everywhere he went, he decides to rekindle a relationship with an old flame (Angela Bassett) who is back in town and reporting on the team.
This was the only highlight of his lonely life. The team continued to lose and noone would even listen to Stan's advice and are seeing a shot at ending the season at 3rd place slipping away. After the team's recent loss the press interviewed the best player on the team who's got the same arrogance, skills, and selfishness that Stan once had. Stan interrupted the guy's interview and gave him some friendly advice to try and prevent him for being what he has been his entire life. For once, we see Stan in a different light as he became a team player has he was laughing and cutting up jokes with the team, uplifting the players spirit when things were going wrong and giving them pointers on the other team. The team started listening and when Stan made his 2,298th hit, the team started winning games and were on the verge on getting 3rd place but the goal would be put to the test as they placed one of the best teams in the league, the Houston Astros. Of course, Stan was back to getting publicity from the Best Damn Sports Show and Jay Leno which was nice to see him getting the respect back of being one of the all time greats, but his ego started to kick back in. Making guest appearances on these shows when he promised his old flame and teammates to meet him at practice for something very important (possibly a perposal) was the sign that the old Stan was coming back. In the final game of the season with Stan one hit away from proclaiming the title "Mr. 3000", Stan recalls his statement made from his peers that reminded him of his old ways and decides that he didn't really care about that hit and the hall of fame induction. I don't want to give away the ending and some of the events that led up to it, but I will close the review by saying this. Stan does retire after the game, but he ends his career in a UN-selfish way. People no longer remembered Stan the jerk. Sure, the cocky attitude was still there, but the light hearted side of him was what was shining the most. Stan may not be Mr. 3000, but he ended a successful career on top. This movie reminded me alot Angels In The Outfield and the first Mighty Ducks on which a person who's successful past created an ego that noone wanted to be around with but a few things and people helped inspire them and make them better people in the end. I think the movie is worth checking out.
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