A Mile in His Shoes

I was lucky to discover this film running on the Christian Broadcasting system, it's a nice family entertainment film and no overt preaching.

The basic plot outline of the story reminded me of Bob Feller who at the age of 16 was discovered working on the family farm in Van Meter, Iowa. Like young Luke Schroder he had blinding speed. Unlike Schroder in the film, Feller had his family support and his father was the one who made the decision to sign with the Cleveland Indians. 266 career wins later and Feller is in the Hall of Fame.

Feller also did not suffer from Asperger's syndrome. I've met people with that disability and some are high functioning. None channeled in the direction of throwing a baseball and learning the art of pitching. Which minor league manager Dean Cain teaches him.

The best parts of A Mile In His Shoes are some truly touching scenes with Dean Cain and Luke Schroder. They borrowed a lot from Rainman for their performances and it's as special as Rainman.

This one is a sleeper and belongs in a list of good films about baseball. I think Bob Feller would have liked it.

I like the movie but also the way that they portray Asperger's Syndrome, is so wrong. How do I know? Because I've been diagnosed with it since I was 11. We're not some sensitive child-like people, we are more like somewhat cold average person, with somewhat more logical brains. It's weird to see someone I would call my equal not be someone who could hold a proper conversation.

This story was certainly inspiring and touching. It starts with a coach (called "Murph", or Mr. Murphy) for a little league team with the worst name of all time, the River Rats, trying to find some real talented players for the already-started baseball season. His car gets stuck in a muddy ditch near a farm, where he comes across a really talented teen with a powerful throwing arm. It turns out the kid, named Mickey, is high-functioning autistic, being born with Asperger's Syndrome. This made his father super protective of him and, when first asked by Murph, was hesitant to allow his son to try out for the River Rats. But with enough convincing of his son's natural talent, the dad lets Mickey try out for the team.

Of course, there are a lot of cheesy montage moments, but I'm glad the film didn't focus on Mickey's failures. He actually did a great job whenever he was on the pitcher's mound for a game. What the film did that I might not have liked was give us a villain, a jealous teammate who didn't like being sidelined while Mickey stole the spotlight. This helped to unite the team and support Mickey, but still, why did this story need a villain? Being autistic in a loud, demanding sport like baseball should have been the focus of the story itself, but there wasn't any real obstacle other than the jealous teammate.

The other things I found a bit weird was Mickey's dad and (No spoilers!) the resolution of the entire rising action. For a story, you need a climax and a resolution, but for a realistic look on a boy with autism in our fast-paced world, everything seemed to work out perfectly in the end for a Disney-esque feel-good ending. And Mickey's dad was so overly critical and harsh, to the point of being such an obstacle in himself. But if he were to be the main obstacle, then fine. But why have an over-bearing father and a villain both be part of the rising action? Just choose one and expand on it.

I was glad that the film included religion. If this was Disney, you know they'd shy away from it like it was a monster. But the film understood the importance and significance of religion in the lives of real people. For that, this film an its message certainly gives it a good rating on my part. If you want a clean, feel-good film about sports and an underdog, then watch this film. I was lucky enough to discover it on Netflix. I hope you guys can catch it there too before it gets removed in the future. If you are looking for a gritty, realistic story, then perhaps this story is not for you. But maybe the book is.

"A Mile in His Shoes" was not the worst touchy-feely movie I've ever seen, but it definitely is not near the top (which speaks much to the amount of touchy-feely movies I watch)...

The movie has Dean Cain, which really means it has that one guy that you recognize but have no clue what his name is... you just know you've seen him in movies before. And honestly, he wasn't awful... I was actually expecting much, much worse.

In the movie, Dean Cain plays baseball coach Arthur Murphy, who coaches a local semi-pro team who seems to only play one team the entire movie... seriously, every game in this movie is versus a team from Fargo... there is no other opponent featured. Anywho... Coach Murphy is sent to talk to a young kid, Mickey, from Indiana who has Aspergers Syndrome, but his parents have no desire to have him play professional baseball. Mickey's only baseball "experience" was throwing apples at a metal pan on the farm, which should illicit any thinking person to ponder how they know about this kid and why they'd pay him to play professional baseball.

Anywho.... Mickey has Aspergers Syndrome, which is a form of high-functioning autism, and they couldn't have missed the mark any worse than they did. As someone who has worked with kids with Aspergers Syndrome, it was actually kind of difficult to watch. Kids with Aspergers are generally very intelligent and often very poor in social skills... Mickey was quite the opposite on multiple fronts. Yeah, there are special cases, but if you're gonna make a movie about Aspergers, find a middle of the road type of example to work with... it just works better.

So Mickey plays on the team and is well liked and is actually pretty good. That's all I'll say about the synopsis of the movie.

I wasn't on the cast of this movie, nor do I know EXACTLY what it was they were trying to accomplish by making it, but I can't imagine it accomplished its purpose. I'm sure it was rather low budget (if not, their financial folks should be fired forever)... but that doesn't excuse making a poor example of a neurological disorder that is actually pretty important in our culture right now. From a production standpoint, outside of Dean Cain, the acting was awful. Mickey's dad, Clarence, was maybe the most painful acting performance I've had to watch in a while. The actor who played Mickey, Luke Schroder, was not good either... more training and coaching on how to act his role would have gone miles for this movie (pun very much intended).

My wife and I saw this movie on Netflix, and seeing the description, we decided to watch. We weren't upset we picked it—we would have turned if off otherwise—we just wish Aspergers Syndrome was portrayed better... and maybe, just maybe the movie wouldn't have been so bad.

This family sports drama was really good. Dean Cain, Luke Schroder, and the rest of the cast did a great job in this movie. This true story was pretty dramatic and inspirational. It's about being able to achieve an ultimate goal even if you're mentally challenged. If you haven't seen this movie yet, check it out sometime. It's worth seeing. James Welch Henderson Arkansas 5/17/21.