Drucker in the Dug-Out (2011)

The Story is about a friend taking over the role of a manager for a club from her friend who has fallen ill with the club in question being a high school baseball team. While not too keen on managing the club in the beginning the friend who is called Minami Kawashima played by former AKB48 idol and now actress and singer Atsuko Maeda slowly learns the actions and care needed to manage the team.

This is the first role of Atsuko Maeda that i seen since Q10 and i have to say that she has improved a lot. Plus she has got much prettier.

I have been a fan of Haruna Kawaguichi since i saw her performance in detective vs detectives and though this film was before then Haruna's performance here is still impressive.

Music was pretty good but got much better near the end when the music club and cheer club joins in.

Overall i loved this movie because in addition to great acting and story it also reinforces the lesson that with teamwork and support you will be able to achieve your dreams someday.

Minami Minegishi i know from AKB48 but she is also a surprisingly good actress. Here she delivered her lines perfectly though her facial expressions could use some work.

The overall story i found to be really good and heartwarming and especially near the end where nearly the whole school ends up helping the team. That was a great scene and seeing each of the different clubs working together to help them is hearwarming.

The final match was well played and it was nice to see the team that was ranked so low to actually be able to win the title.

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One can only expect that much from a movie like this one. Though the performances were really good and the story was easily followed and interesting, the execution of the movie failed completely. There were parts that were simply idiotic, with the characters being transferred into the world of a manga, well, almost. That aside, the main character seemed to be drowned into the movie, that didn't really help her set as a main lead and actually had her as a side role compared to the team and even her friend. The story, itself, was entertaining, and you can't help but root for the team. But, the way the team reached the finals, the way they prepared, even the way the characters were connected to one another, were a mess. So, I will be generous enough to give this movie 5 out of 10, only because of the performances and the good story.

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