Mr. Rookie

Running time: 118 mins

Ohara Koji is no ordinary Rookie. He is the Hanshin Tigers' secret weapon. Who would have thought that after two major shoulder injuries, 32-year-old Ohara could become a national sensation? Fans of the Tigers haven't a clue, however, since their favorite pitcher is the man with the mask-Mr. Rookie, Ohara's alter ego, a secret that is kept from his fans, his family, and his employer. 

Ohara's charade leads to constant excuses to his family as to why he is regularly late coming home from work as a company executive. In the meantime, a nosy reporter is getting very close to Mr. Rookie's secret identity; Ohara's employer might transfer him to another city; and to top things off, his company chooses Mr. Rookie as their spokesman, putting the fates of both careers in the hands of his pitching. It's all in a day's work. 

Himself the son of a baseball legend, lead actor Kazushige Nagashima spent eight years in the Japanese big leagues and is thus completely convincing as the cocksure athlete and dedicated worker who is only trying to do right by his family. Achieving a finely tuned mix of family drama and laugh-out-loud comedy, director Satoshi Isaka breathes new life into the baseball movie genre with Mr. Rookie, a film that's as imaginative as it is entertaining. 

- Al Owens