Movie review – “Field of Dreams” (1989) ***

Schmaltzy and silly - and the second and third acts basically repeat the first (i.e. man hears voices and does something crazy) but done with conviction and enthusiasm. It also benefits from the aw shucks charm of Kevin Costner in the lead role - could any other actor have pulled this off? Maybe Paul Newman. (Costner made so many interesting choices when he was a star; it's a star he got puffy and went off the boil.) James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster offer gravitas, and Amy Madigan is sparky in what is an under-written role, really. No matter how corny the film is I still got tingles up my spine in some scenes: "If you build it he will come", "well played played rookie", "do you want to play catch", etc.