The Man from Left Field is a 1993 TV-movie directed by, produced by, and starring Burt Reynolds and, for something that it sounds like he was heavily invested in, Burt gives a pretty phoned-in performance.
The movie is about a drifter with amnesia that wanders into a small town one day, starts giving baseball tips to a little league team, and thus becomes their coach. None of the parents seem to have a problem with this, but that's besides the point. Anyway, this is a movie full of problems so I'll start with the team. This is the stereotypical, 90's, ragtag team of nonthreatening misfits: There's a short kid, a kid with glasses, a pudgy kid, a kid with a troubled home life, one kid that's actually pretty good at the sport, etc. Imagine a less interesting version of the kids from The Sandlot or Disney's The Mighty Ducks and that's this team.
Along the way Burt Reynolds is teaching them life lessons and helping them with their problems, and all the while he can't remember any of his past. He also starts dating the mom of one of the players, she's played by Reba McEntire, and she seems like the only person who's actually trying in the movie. One evening one of the kids runs away, falls into a lake and, of course, Burt Reynolds saves him. The traumatic experience gives Burt his memory back, for some reason, and he remembers that he used to be a great Major League player and...also... a Doctor?! Why? I don't know, that part just comes out of left field (pun intended).
Anyway, you can probably guess how it ends, the team wins the big game against last years champs who are also a bunch of rich bullies and everyone presumably live happily ever after. It's not a good movie. In addition to the things I already mentioned, there are also some random awkwardly placed freeze frames, music that doesn't always seem to fit the mood, and some really cheesy writing.
Overall, it's watchable but not something I recommend.
I give it a 1 out of 5.
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