Extra Innings: Movie Review

Within "Extra Innings" is an emotional and moving aspect - one that tackles mental illness head-on and the misdiagnosis and innocent misunderstanding leads to unchecked tragedy. Unfortunately, the film needs a lot of serious trimming in terms of its bloated narrative to make its points clearer.

Even at a very young age, David Sabah (Aidan Pierce Brennan) feels trapped. His parents are traditional, devout and strict followers to their Jewish tradition so much so that his parents wants David to quit the only thing he loves so much - baseball. As David grows into a young man, he must not only find his way through his parents but also come to the reality that several of his siblings are suffering from mental illnesses that have never been properly acknowledged by his close-minded parents.

We just couldn't get into a rhythm with "Extra Innings". At the helm of it all was its extremely detailed narrative featuring a lot of extra scenes and scenarios that felt unnecessary and unchecked at times. The film is almost two hours long and this is the rare film that we felt could have been more effective if it was shorter - maybe removing half an hour's worth of scenes. Unfortunately, there was this nagging feeling throughout the film that no one really reviewed its writing making scenes feel disjointed and ultimately jarring throughout its runtime. Outside its narrative, the film was surprisingly well-made. The cinematography was excellent in our opinion and even particular scenes just looked and felt high-budget. The acting was okay but nothing special but considering that this was a low-budget title, it actually exceeded our expectations a lot. But what we really appreciated in "Extra Innings" was probably its bluntness and honesty. The film does not sugarcoat its issues and dilemmas and there's an overwhelming sense of tragedy from start to finish. There's even one scene that we won't spoil that was totally out of this world and wild with what transpired. Overall, "Extra Innings" had a lot of unnecessary "extras" that made it less effective as a film but we won't deny that it was a film with a heavy message and lessons to provide audiences as consolation.

Rating: 3 reels

Why you should watch it:
- tackles the realities and tragedies of mental illness in a satisfying manner

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the narrative needs direction and clean-up