What I'm Watching: 42

Warner Bros. Pictures

Why I watched it: I'm not really sure why I watched this one. I'm not usually a huge fan of historical pieces or autobiographies unless they feature particular favorite actors or directors of mine or are about people or events that I find interesting. In this case, it's even stranger that I would watch 42 since I am neither a fan of sports movies or of movies about racism and such. All I knew is that this movie got semi-decent reviews and I was bored and thought it might offer something interesting?

What I thought: it was about what I expected. Maybe even less. It has all the old, cliche moments of terrible, racist white people that Hollywood just loves to portray. Don't get me wrong, white people are the worst. Ask anyone who knows me, it's one of my number one things that annoys me, even though I'm white (especially coming from a customer service background in the great Pacific Northwest working at a certain, large corporate coffee chain the title of which I will not disclose but I'm sure you can guess which one. Long story short, it's every middle-aged, white person's favorite place to go and belittle the people who work there to try make themselves feel better about the worthless life they lead). Still, Hollywood has a certain way of portraying racism in so many movies, and this one is no different and doesn't give any new perspective on it. Jackie Robinson's story really is an amazing one when you think about it, but this film doesn't do it justice. It has all the same old swelling of emotional, dramatic music and the touching moments of white people breaking down barriers of racism, etc, etc. Even for baseball fans, 42 doesn't have much to offer. A story like this one needs more of a documentary treatment rather than a dramatic, not another Hollywood retelling that gets more wrapped up in the idea of overcoming racism rather than actually doing something about it. That's probably the best way to sum up how Hollywood treats racism in most of its movies. One more thing about this movie: Harrison Ford's performance is the weirdest. He tries to play something totally different than the titular hero by taking on this role as a slow-talking, deep voiced old man and it doesn't really work at all. The whole time I was like, Harrison, you're not fooling anyone!

Should you watch it: If you're a sucker for the more old-fashioned, melodramatic period pieces, then sure! But even then, I think you'll find yourself getting bored and realize that the whole movie becomes a repetitive string of ugly, angry white people yelling at Robinson to get off the field, and whatnot. The film feels altogether too short as well and is easily forgettable. Which as I said before is a shame because Robinson's story really is a fascinating one and a good reminder of how there are still many things today (like gay marriage!) that we treat as strange, wrong, unequal, etc. A story like this one reminds us how there have been many things in the past we have treated the same way, and how we have come to realize how those things and ways of thinking are outdated, misunderstood, and wrong.