A League of Their Own Review: The Series Adaptation Remixes the Classic Film From Overlooked Points-of-View

The post A League of Their Own Review: The Series Adaptation Remixes the Classic Film From Overlooked Points-of-View appeared first on Consequence.

The Pitch: You might think you know this story… but you don’t. The Penny Marshall film A League of Their Own, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, was a landmark production as well as a damn great sports movie, chronicling the inaugural season of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, despite the 1943-era sexism that had men chanting from the stands, “Girls can’t play ball!”

As groundbreaking as the original film was, 1992 was a long time ago. So in creating a new take on A League of Their Own as a TV show, co-creators Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) and Will Graham (Mozart In the Jungle) have effectively made a remix of the original film, fully centered in the underrepresented voices that, in the movie, only lurked at the edges of the frame.

The story is still focused on how in 1943, an eclectic group of women was brought together to form the AAGPBL, with the narrative centered around the Rockford Peaches’ quest to win the league championship. But with eight hour-long episodes to explore these womens’ lives and love of the sport, there’s more opportunity to explore the nuances of these characters, and more importantly explore the topics that a PG-rated studio picture from the ’90s wouldn’t have touched.

Batter Up, Hear That Call… There are actually enough twists to the plot of League Season 1 to make this reviewer wary of saying too much, but the series kicks off with aspiring ballplayer Carson Shaw (Jacobson) literally running away from home to attend tryouts for the league. (Yes, the scene features her running for the train à la Dottie and Kit in the film — just one of many homages interwoven into the show.) There, she meets the people who will eventually form this new version of the Rockford Peaches, with Casey “Dove” Porter (Nick Offerman) showing up later to serve as coach.

Carson’s reason for wanting to leave home and join the team is simple on the surface: She loves baseball. But her decision also happened to coincide with her receiving news that her husband is about to return from the war, and her realization that she’s looking for something that’s been missing from her life. What that is, she isn’t totally sure about, but except it might involve her attraction to one of her teammates… And that’s literally only half the story.

The Time Has Come For One and All… So the closest the movie came to acknowledging the existence of queer people was Rosie O’Donnell as a butch player (who nonetheless had a boyfriend back home). And as Consequence explored this July, the only notable character of color was the silent Black woman (played by an Indiana softball player named DeLisa Chinn-Tyler) who threw the baseball back to Geena Davis.

League the series includes nods to both of those touches: O’Donnell makes some memorable appearances in the back half of the season, while aspiring Black ballplayer and Rockford resident Max (Chanté Adams) is introduced in a scene that deliberately mimics the DeLisa Chinn-Tyler scene.

A League of Their Own (Prime Video)

But Max’s journey doesn’t end there. League doesn’t rewrite history so that Max can end up becoming a Peach in Season 1, but it instead actively follows her path to figure out what her place in the world might be, as a talented young Black woman who is much less interested in finding a man than she is in finding a team that will let her play baseball. Max’s season-long struggles run parallel to Carson’s own blossoming realizations about herself, with the two becoming confidants at a certain point as well.

…To Play-ay-ay Ball: This definitely feels like a passion project for Jacobson, who throws everything into the role of Carson and then some, finding fresh nuances to the comedic awkwardness she perfected on Broad City. But equally impressive is D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) as Greta, who immediately proves herself as a star player and a fun gal — which is of course a mask of self-preservation, as Greta keeps her secrets close to her chest.

Don’t get too excited for Offerman’s presence, as he and other big-name guest stars like Nat Faxon and Kevin Dunn don’t get nearly as much screen time as you’d hope. But playing a larger-than-expected role is the wonderful Dale Dickey as the team’s official chaperone/warden, and O’Donnell’s aforementioned appearances are too good to spoil, but it can be said that there’s a poetic justice to her getting play a very different role in this universe.

Other standouts include Roberta Colindrez (a captivating presence whose previous credits include I Love Dick, The Deuce, and Mrs. America) as hard-edge pitcher Lupe, Molly Ephraim as the effervescent former beauty queen Maybelle, comedy-legend-in-the-making Kate Berlant as superstitious Shirley, and Priscilla Delgado as Esti, who doesn’t speak much English but can steal bases like a champion. Melanie Field and Kelly McCormack also get their moments to shine both on the field and in the drama, and Gbemisola Ikumelo, as Max’s best friend Clance, shines in her supporting moments.

The Verdict: There’s something thrilling about how under the guise of adapting a classic work of mainstream cinema, the creators have used it as a cover to tell deep, rich stories about LGBTQ+ identity and community, while also never losing sight of the Black experience as well. It’s a lot to juggle, and if there’s one major complaint to be had, it’s that there isn’t a ton of baseball in the show as a result — while the original was a sports movie through and through, the sport at times seems less important than the people playing it.

But honestly, it feels like their priorities are in the right place. Also, what action there is on the field is well-staged, and there are plenty of other baseball dramas out there. Meanwhile, League has the opportunity to explore a whole new approach to telling stories about the past, putting its focus on the very real existence of queer people and Black people; folks often overlooked by period tales, even though they very much existed prior to today.

This is valuable storytelling and necessary storytelling. But also, in these hands, it’s often a whole lot of fun. Which means that by the end of the season, the series does succeed in delivering the sort of thrills you get from watching a great game being played — leaving you rooting for a second season.

Where to Watch: All eight episodes of A League of Their Own Season 1 premiere Friday, August 12th, on Amazon Prime.

Trailer:

A League of Their Own Review: The Series Adaptation Remixes the Classic Film From Overlooked Points-of-View
Liz Shannon Miller

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