DVD Movie Rating for: Mr 3000

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Movie Plot of: Mr 3000

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Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) is anything but humble. In fact, the swaggering, self-congratulatory former baseball player is just about as nauseatingly cocky as they come.

Nearly a decade ago, he walked out on his team after batting his 3000th hit and spoiled the Milwaukee Brewers' run for the pennant. Since then he's been dishing out applause for himself and building a little strip mall of Mr. 3000 businesses.

Stan may be thoroughly besotted with himself, but not everyone else is. The sportswriters haven't forgotten his rude treatment of the press during his stint in the big leagues or his arrogant antics. As a result, they've conveniently neglected to vote him into the Baseball Hall of Fame. That is until some outside pressure forces their hand for the upcoming inductions.

However, when doing a final run of the stats, Hall of Fame officials (John McConnell, Ric Reitz) discover Stan is actually three hits short of the record---making him Mr. 2997 instead of Mr. 3000.

Wanting desperately to be a legend in the record books (like he is in his own mind), the pudgy and pompous first baseman comes out of retirement and suits up for another season with the Brewers in order to make good his claim to fame.

Stan and the general manager (Chris Noth), who sees this publicity stunt as a way to increase the dwindling fan base, are attracted to the idea of a comeback. However, his former coach (Paul Sorvino) and the young lineup he is playing with are anything but happy about the deal.

Its likely parents won't be too happy with Stan's return to the stadium either. This man has a nasty habit of spitting out profanities as quickly and consistently as a good batting cage pitching machine. He also recounts his past sexual exploits as eagerly as his batting average. And while he makes a few attempts at being an agreeable team player, his efforts are unbelievable and about as short-lived as an infield pop fly.

He is equally inept on the relationship playing field. More interested in self-satisfying sex than commitment, he sees a network reporter (Angela Bassett) as little more than a warm body in bed and a means for promoting himself on national TV. In reality, the only person he seems able to connect with is the bartender (Michael Rispoi) at his sports bar who regularly strokes his ego.

Unfortunately, even the inclusion of a feel good ending and cameos from a whole roster of big sluggers like Tom Arnold, Larry King and Jay Leno can't save this film from racking up the errors. Checking the content stats, it's easy to see that Mr. 3000 strikes out long before the final inning is played.

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Reviews of the movie: Mr 3000

Mr. 3000 Directed by Charles Stone 3d (U.S.)

If you were looking for a sports metaphor, you could say that Bernie Mac makes a triple play in "Mr. 3000," his surprisingly hard-hitting comedy. In creating the breathtakingly arrogant baseball player Stan Ross, he gives moviegoers a character they love to hate, then a newly humbled character they can root for and finally a poignant reminder that some lessons in life have to be learned twice.

During his glory days with the Milwaukee Brewers, Stan is so mean that when he reaches his record 3,000th hit and the ball goes into the stands, he snatches it away from the little boy who caught it, refusing even to trade him a cap for it. Stan then declares his greatness to the press and retires in the middle of the pennant race, leaving his teammates high and dry. When the club holds Stan Ross Day, they can't find anyone to say nice things about him. Stan doesn't care; he has his Mr. 3000 Shopping Center profits to keep him warm.

His neat, meaningless life is upset when a record-keeping mistake is discovered: Stan really had only 2,997 career hits. So, although he's 47, has been away from the game for nine years and can now do only four push-ups, Stan gets into uniform again to take care of those pesky three hits, which he predicts he'll do in the first game. He is mistaken. His young teammates call him Grandpa and leave a walker in front of his locker as a not-so-good-natured joke. When he strikes out in his first five games, Mo Simmons (Angela Bassett), a reporter covering his comeback for ESPN, tells him, "You can't beat Father Time." Later, when Stan regains his confidence, it's like watching a miraculously cured Dr. Jekyll suffer a relapse.

The director Charles Stone, probably better known for his beer commercials ("Whassup?!") than for his sleeper film hit "Drumline," clearly knows how to mix laughter and meaning. The film also benefits from bull's-eye casting, with Chris Noth as the general manager who doesn't care about the score as long as the fans keep buying tickets; Paul Sorvino, in an almost completely silent performance as the disappointed manager, and Michael Rispoli as Boca, Stan's only friend, whose advice, no matter what the subject, is always "Do your thing, man." If there was any question about how well Bernie Mac's charm would play on the big screen instead of on television, the news is good: no problem.

"Mr. 3000" isn't necessarily what you would expect from a Bernie Mac vehicle.

To be sure, the movie has its share of funny moments, of snappy one-liners.

But as much as it is a comedy, it also focuses generally on the evolution of Mac's character, Milwaukee Brewers star Stan Ross, and specifically on the maturation of his relationship with former flame and ESPN reporter Maureen Simmons (played by Angela Bassett).

Ross is a first baseman for the Brewers with tunnel vision on punching his ticket to the Hall of Fame by getting the 3,000th hit of his career. Once he reaches the milestone, he retires - even with the Brewers in the heat of a pennant race.

Having still not gotten the Hall call nine years later, it is discovered Ross - who has parlayed his 3,000 hits into a shopping center that includes several stores, from a Chinese restaurant to a pet store to a barber shop, all with names playing off the accomplishment, and who has virtually built his entire identity around the accomplishment - has just 2,997 hits.

So at the age of 47, Ross comes out of retirement in pursuit of the elusive three hits. But during his second chance at the Major Leagues he slowly transforms from a "there's no 'I' in team, but there's a 'me' " player into a selfless, um, veteran leader. He even manages to inspire the new self-absorbed star of the team to motivate the rest of the Brewers to play hard to finish in third place.

After he has burned her in the past, Ross also makes a play to commit to an understandably skeptical "Mo," covering the comeback story for the multimedia leviathan.

For all of the character's early selfishness, Mac is still likeable as Ross, even if the relationship between Ross and Mo is somewhat hard to believe. And the depiction of their romance runs a tad long on at least one occasion.

But there are enough moments, both humorous and slightly more poignant, to keep the movie entertaining

Comedian Bernie Mac, best known as the lovable curmudgeon on his self-titled Fox sitcom, tests the limits of his charisma in the baseball comedy "Mr. 3000."

Mac plays Stan Ross, a swaggering, loud-mouthed Brewers ballplayer who has little respect for his teammates, the press or even his fans. When he reaches his goal of 3,000 hits, he abandons his team by immediately retiring. Whilst resting on his laurels, a middle-aged Ross discovers that due to a statistical error, three of his hits don't count. Now, he's back at bat to reclaim the title he's been capitalizing on over the years.

Unlike his onscreen persona, Bernie Mac is friendly without the brash posturing. At a press junket for the film, he greets reporters with genuine glee, even teasing one about hoarding chocolate chip cookies. He's obviously enjoying himself and sports a Braves jersey - although he insists it's for color coordination, not being a fan - with matching red Kangol hat and pants. The engaging and unfailingly polite actor credits his manners and humility to his mother.

"My mama always told me, 'Put some C-L on your A-S-S,' " he says, relating how he was reprimanded after being caught singing a dirty song. "(She'd say,) 'You're going to be a man someday. Act like it.' "

It's advice that he's carried over into his career. In his hit sitcom, it's often a self-effacing Mac who learns a lesson after acting on some foolish impulse. Similarly, "Mr. 3000's" Stan Ross has more than his share of foibles that he must overcome on his journey to maturity - not an easy task in the testosterone-filled world of ego, trash talking and womanizing.

In his first leading role, Mac hopes he'll hit a home run instead of striking out.

"I said, 'You know what? How you start is how you finish,' " he explains. "I didn't want to go over or under the top. I told them, 'Take the dingaling jokes out.' "

Although he decides not to go the raunchy route, Mac had definite opinions about his character's romance with reporter Mo Collins, played by Angela Bassett. In the film, Mo fights her attraction to Stan after he's treated her shabbily and instead pursues her career in journalism.

Says Mac, "I want to show true black love, minority love. They don't show us or put us in that position where we have to have a disagreement and then come back."

What the comedian loved most about the film, however, was the baseball, a sport that he played seriously in the past. Director Charles Stone appreciated his star's experience, feeling that it helped Stan's physical and emotional believability.

"He's quite a sportsman in his own right, just in general and in the mindset," says Stone. "(That) was one of the things I was really impressed about with Bernie is that he definitely brought the air of an athlete, of all the athletes I know, and sort of the dialogue, the mentality that an athlete will have."

One particular quirk Mac brings to his character is a signature "wiggle" that's inspired by two of his favorite ballplayers, Hall of Famer Rod Carew and Pittsburgh Pirates' Roberto Clemente.

"In sports, there's an individual arrogancy (sic)... That's one of those intimidation things," he says. "That's where the wiggle came from, and the wiggle is about confidence. The wiggle is about 'I don't care who's on the mound. I can hit you. You can throw it in my face. You can throw it at my head, but we'll meet again.' "

 At age 47, Hall of Famer Stanley "The Boss" Ross (Bernie Mac) is returning to the baseball field to reclaim his title as Mr. 3000. That's because years after he retired, it is determined that only 2,997 of his 3,000 hits were valid.

Bernie Mac makes an incredible transfer from television to the movie screen as he portrays this selfish, cocky, yet talented baseball player who learns a lesson or two about life. This wasn't his first appearance on the big screen and trust it won't be his last. Mr. 3000 is an outstanding, hilarious and realistic comedy. Mr. 3000 delivers an empowering message through great actors, such as Angela Bassett who takes on the role of Moreen Simmons.

The film's previews do no justice to how great this movie really is. Mr. 3000 has all the key things a movie needs to be successful -- romance, laughter, drama, reality and a lesson worth learning

Mr. 3000 pulls you into the scene, and makes you feel as if you were there. This is not some cliched movie about a baseball player who just learns about teamwork. I could give you 3,000 reasons to see this movie, but it'll be funnier coming from Mr. 3000 himself.

Mr 3000 Starring: Bernie Mac, Angela Bassett

As much as I can appreciate a "Rudy" or "Remember the Titans" kind of picture for their uplifting earnestness -- the more critical films like "Raging Bull" and "Cobb" hit me harder. That is because the real lives of Jake LaMotta and Ty Cobb were anything but heroic and were, instead, intensely monstrous and no holes barred in their depictions.

"Mr. 3000" is by no means a dark, gritty drama of an incorrigible legend. But what this film shares with "Raging Bull," for instance, is its lead character, Stan Ross, who is disliked by many more people than he would care to admit.

What this film has on its side in terms of box office is the fact that it's a comedy, and Ross is played by Bernie Mac whose performance is both funny and touching.

Ross, a mouthy and egotistical Milwaukee Brewers baseball legend, immediately retires after getting his 3,000th hit, leaving his team mid-season for the likes of TV commercials and other endorsements.

Not the smoothest move, but Stan is still basking in his "3000" success nine years later until a crucial counting error gives way to his being denied into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

When it comes to light that Stan only had 2,997 hits instead of 3,000 he comes out of retirement at the age of 47 to get his last three hits.

This is where the film's real fun begins. Even though he is past his peak, Stan makes for a great comeback story -- one that ends up inspiring the fans, his team and even himself.

Stan is often referred to as the grandpa of the team, but his extensive years of baseball experience become an invaluable source of information that his teammates start considering. Before you know it, the Brewers stop their losing and bickering and begin to unite together and win.

The ever confidant Mac is well cast as a one man show who learns to become a team player and wiser person. In addition, Angela Bassett fuels the typical, thoughtless girlfriend role with spirited authority. Although formulaic and predictable, this film is much more thoughtful than I would have imagined. While not a homerun, "Mr. 3000" still comes out with a solid hit.