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Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Hustle (2004) *** (out of 4) Peter Bogdanovich's story of Pete Rose (Tom Sizemore) and his fall from grace due to gambling. This has gotten all sorts of bad reviews but I rather enjoyed the film. It's certainly far from great but as a baseball fan I found it rather interesting. Bogdanovich's direction really keeps this above your typical TV movie but I guess most of the heat went towards Sizemore and his performance. Rose is such a legend that it would be impossible to really have any actor capture him on film. I think Sizemore gives a very good "performance", although it never really seems like Rose. Since I find it impossible to capture Rose, I think Sizemore did a good job creating a character. The ending is pretty depressing even though we now know the truth of what happened. The Hall of Fame has rapists, murderers, dead beat fathers, racists, alcoholics, druggies, cheaters so why not one gambler?

Because I'm a sports fanatic and few athletes are better suited for a biography movie than Pete Rose, I was initially excited about seeing this movie. But I became skeptical when learning that it was made by ESPN. Although I generally enjoy that station, I was colossally disappointed in the only movie of theirs I'd previously seen, their debut, 2002's "A Season on the Brink." That movie is a painfully shallow and amateur adaptation of John Feinstein's outstanding chronicle of Indiana University's 1985-86 men's basketball team.But "Hustle" shows that ESPN is already making good progress in movie making. Though not a masterpiece, it's a solid presentation of the downfall of Rose, who set dozens of Major League Baseball records but was banned for life from MLB for betting on his hometown Cincinnati Reds while he was managing that team."Hustle" takes place from October, 1986 - the month that Rose's playing career ended - until August 24, 1989, the day of his banishment. He managed the Reds, the team for which he played most of his career, during that entire period. Unlike most sports biography movies, this one has little on the field action and assumes that the viewer is already familiar with Rose's career accomplishments.Instead, "Hustle" concentrates largely on Rose's gambling, which he has long taken to an obsessive level and says is his only hobby. The movie is based on John Dowd's investigation, which led to Rose's banishment. In the movie, Rose (played by Tom Sizemore) is shown as gambling with the relentless competitive fire that made him a fan favorite on the field. In one of the early scenes, he is simultaneously watching three games, all of which he has presumably bet on, and cheers wildly, as if his team is playing in the games.But the dark side of Rose's gambling is shown early and often. He routinely bets $10,000 per MLB game, including those involving the Reds, who he always bets to win. In one scene, the scoreboard at the Reds' then home, Riverfront Stadium, is broken and Rose is clearly uncomfortable with not being able to see the scores of the other games on which he has money at stake.He piles up big losses in his bets, many of which are illegal, and sometimes doesn't pay quickly enough to satisfy those to whom he owes money. This results in the mafia threatening Rose's friend Paul Janszen (Dash Mihok), who places Rose's bets for him.Janszen gets progressively more uncomfortable with his unsafe position but the police get to him before the mafia does. Janszen is arrested for dealing steroids and tells the media of Rose's gambling on his team's games. MLB's highest officials confront Rose about the allegations, which he strongly denies. But Dowd's investigation shows otherwise.Though the movie is somewhat modestly produced, it does a good job at showing Rose behind the scenes. Sizemore bears only a slight resemblance to Rose and doesn't sound like him at all but does very well at copying Rose's personality, posture and mannerisms. (This is a welcome contrast to the aforementioned "A Season on the Brink," in which Brian Dennehy is almost completely unconvincing as Bob Knight.) And Melissa DiMarco is good as Rose's wife, Carol, who fears that her husband's gambling threatens their financial security and tries to get him to stop. And from what I understand, the information given in the movie is generally accurate, which is often not the case in sports biography movies.During his more than 40 years as a celebrity, Rose - crass, arrogant and marginally educated but also a passionate and aggressive overachiever - has provoked lots of mixed emotions. "Hustle" gives us about as comprehensive a look at this very intriguing man as could be expected in a low budget 90 minute made for TV movie. And it gives me much more hope for future ESPN movies than I had before.And the DVD is jam packed with bonus features on Rose, which, combined with the movie, make the DVD and excellent value. 7/10. (The rating is based only on the movie, not on any of the DVD's other features.)

What a shame. This is a great story about a great baseball player and this movie couldn't have been worse. Let's start with the acting. It was a pile of junk. If Tom Sizemore ever turns in a worse performance he should quit acting and take up ballet. This film was horribly written, terribly directed. It was all over the place. This is supposed to be the story about Pete Rose who gambled on baseball which kept him out of the hall of fame even though he holds the record for the most career hits but this was all about drug scandals. I wish I could provide viewers of this film with some sort of reparations. Its stupid, boring and pathetic. Do yourself a favor, never see this movie.0 stars, no thumbs up

The naked facts of Pete Rose's life would seem to be the stuff thateven an imaginative writer might have trouble coming up with: major league baseball's all-time hits leader, a hometown boy whobecame a hometown AND national sports hero, a player whobecame an American icon for determination, grit and theembodiment of willpower.Then, for the traditional tragedy lover in all of us, comes the fall....atumble from living legend, to a man in public and possiblypersonal denial, finally ending for Rose banned from baseball aconvicted tax cheat and weepy self-confessed gambler. Unfortunately, "Hustle" seems to have missed every chance toextract even a scintilla of pathos from Rose's life, insteadconcentrating on a thin portrayal of the sordid events stemmingfrom his gambling addiction. Whether inside Pete Rose there's areally a significant inner person worthy of close examination is agood question, but it's a question that "Hustle" never even gets asniff of. A miscast Sizemore and a way past prime Bogdonavich togetherfail to create a single genuine moment.