Undrafted (2016) User Reviews

Decent movie i might watch again sometime

[aaron09912 · 7/10 · 30 October 2016]

Went to look at the user reviews and realised there's none here so I said I'd right a quick one. Its about a local baseball team where one of the players doesn't get drafted when he supposedly should have. It takes place over one match in the play off semi final. Its low budget I like the concept its got a bit of drama and a few laughs. The acting is decent is well i think its worth the watch.

If you like low budget sports movies this is really good even as big sports movies go it shows a lot more of the game than most, kinda has to as it takes place during one game but i found that to be nice something different.

Anyway I enjoyed it and would say its worth the watch

Came for Hoechlin, stayed for the baseball

[TheWife101 · 7/10 · 24 December 2020]

What an amazing cast and film. Bravo to Joe to writing and directing this film. And your character was utterly unforgettable! I loved how each player had a story and we had a chance to see all of them up close. I was anxious towards the end of the film. Started off slow for the first 30 mins or so, but worth the wait.

Enjoyable movie

[smree · 7/10 · 8 May 2021]

I know nothing about baseball. Had low expectations but I think anyone who has dreams and a love for something can relate to this movie. Easy watching and enjoyable.

Just the funniest ever

[nicksterd · 23 November 2018]

Undrafted may be low-budget; but at the same time, it is extremely underrated and unpopularized. The thing is that you really need to understand the dialogue and just know what baseball means to any player in order to actually "get" this movie. It is intended to be extremely comical and laughable; while, at the same time, taking seriously the premise of the bitter defeat of a promising college baseball star not accomplishing his dream and getting over his grief; all while deliberately intending not to be a common underdog-cliché film. It's a spectatular and hilarious film that all athletes need to watch.

Funny and Irreverent

[jbacobra · 7/10 · 31 August 2020]

Day in the life of amateur baseball. A bit over the top at times but worth the 90 minutes if you like baseball.

Thoroughly enjoyable!

[lanoir-89650 · 10/10 · 12 January 2018]

I didn't know what to expect from the movie, but the story-line intrigued me. Five minutes into it and I was hooked. Let me warn you though this is not a 'Remember the Titans' or a 'The Blind Side'. This one was created at probably half the budget of the two famous movies and chances are you may not recognize a single face in the cast. However, the movie is simply awesome for some very basic reasons. First, the rusticity and grittiness is not cultivated. A movie about a ragtag baseball team in a small town looks like a ragtag baseball team in a small town including the dusty and ill-fitted jerseys or the less-than-glamourous atmosphere and no attempt has been made to beautify it to make it attractive. It can as well be shot by somebody sitting on the sideline and it kind of makes the whole drama more compelling. Secondly, the cast. They move and talk in a way like they have all been growing up with each other and have known each other since forever. There are the douchebag, the jock, the wannabe, the level-headed, the hot-headed, the local blue-eyed boy whom everybody pitches for and of course there is the jaded-looking umpire with sarcastic one-liners.

You kind of relate to it so much. Even though you may not be from a small town in America, you may not even know all the rules of baseball correctly, hell, you may not even like sports, but you get it. Because at some point of time in your life you are embarrassed by your friends and family, but you still root for them because they are weirdos, but they are your weirdos and you will defend them with tooth and nail. Because things always don't make sense and you get to make do with what little you have. And you will see yourself in the bunch of people playing a game you know little about. That is the magic of this movie.

It is so real that it is nearly unreal. It seems the dialogues were not written by a script-writer, but the actors were told to say whatever comes out of their mouth first thing and they did it so wonderfully. Each one of them has given such guileless, unselfconscious performance, that the story transcends from a sports movie and it becomes an analogy to life itself. Magic of the movie, again.

I would highly recommend it to anybody to people who like baseball, who hate baseball or people like me who don't understand baseball, but would love to watch a movie that proves a movie can be sweet and leave a gentle smile on your lips without having a single romantic plot (or sub-plot).

VIEWS ON FILM review of Undrafted

[burlesonjesse5 · 2/10 · 7 December 2016]

Baseball is America's pastime. It was first played in 18th century England. Sadly, it is depicted in a rather juvenile fashion via 2016's Undrafted (my latest review).

Undrafted is about a crass, intramural team trying to win a meaningless, seven inning game. Supposedly, it is based on a true story involving the director's brother (John Mazzello). Real-life Johnny boy failed to make the Major League Baseball draft. If this is an admiral tribute to him, well then you can just call me the veritable Cal Ripken Jr. So OK, I've seen other, similar "play ball" movies like For Love of the Game and Summer Catch. This is indeed worse. Oh and um, Richard Linklater called. He says he wants his inclination of male bonding back.

Anyway, writer/director Joseph Mazzello (he's also an actor) fashions a script that might look good on paper but for some reason, deems these dudes to be incredibly annoying. They don't talk and act like actual human beings. And hey, they won't and can't shut up. Players on the bench prattle about the Backstreet Boys. Tyler Hoechlin portrays a starting pitcher yet doesn't replicate anything near what said pitcher's form is supposed to look like. A center fielder and his teammates go psychotic even though their team is winning a slight, pivotal game. A hitter argues a pitch that is clearly in the strike zone. Finally, James Belushi appears briefly as a failed, draftee's father (is Belushi that hard up for an acting job). In jest, most of the sequences in Undrafted are in the dugout, separated badly from what is really going on in the field. Man I'm so glad this flick was free by way of On Demand.

All in all, Undrafted is like a more volatile Everybody Wants Some!! It's overacted with scenes that are edited quickly only to die on arrival. The only difference between this film and "Wants Some!!", is that its proceedings don't include partying, drugs, alcohol, or the notion of getting laid. Heck, Undrafted sucks period no matter how you wanna analyze it. I wanted to punch everyone involved. No one wins this cinematic game of baseball and you know what, no one should. That includes the producers, the cast, and the filmmaker (Joe Mazzello) who excitedly (and naively) showed this thing three years after it was made. Undrafted is one of 2016's worst and I don't think it ever got released (in theaters) in the first place. Good call ump. A strike out or a last ditch, nicked foul ball is my commentating assessment . Rating: 1 star.

Came for the actors, stayed for the heart

[macramos · 8/10 · 4 March 2020]

I will admit that I initially wanted to watch this movie purely for the actors. I mean you have Aaron Tveit, Tyler Hoechlin, Chace Crawford, Manny Montana, and Joe Mazzello. I've been following their careers and seeing them all in this movie was the best thing ever. And you can tell they all had a great time making this movie and playing baseball.

This movie is honestly one of my favorites and I was very excited when it finally was released. I enjoy watching it. It's hilarious and it has so much heart. I love that each of the players on D-Backs (the main team in the movie) has their own quirks that make them stand out in a stellar cast. Besides the names I've mentioned above, I recognized majority of the main cast in other projects and it was a "oh hey! he's in this!" for the first half of the movie.

I love that the whole movie is this one game on a disappointing day for all of them, not just Aaron Tveit's Maz. The whole team feels it and expresses it quite often in the film how good of player he is, but they also talk about why he probably wasn't picked. There are some great moments in this movie with so much heart. The team quarrels and are at odds with each other throughout the movie but they come together at the end and forgive each other. One of my favorite scenes consist of a passionate debate on which Backstreet Boy is the best. Hint hint, it's totally Brian.

Hard to watch

[kevin-45609 · 4/10 · 17 June 2019]

I turned this on mistaking it for another baseball movie from the same year with Tyler Yoechlin in it "Everybody Wants Some". I heard good things about that film and absolutely love baseball and baseball films. Unfortunately this was not what i was hoping for. I kept waiting for it to get better and it just never did. The "Coach" Ty was the worst, He was so angry and aggressive and like an obnoxious cartoon. Totally unrealistic and cheesy

I loved it even though I know a little about baseball!

[zehravayvada · 8/10 · 27 January 2019]

If you like sports movies you should definitely watch it. I don't know anything about baseball yet I just loved it. It may be low-budget - and I'm generally not into sports movies - but few minutes later I found myself laughing. And I think you don't have to know so much about baseball or love it to "get" the movie. You just need to have the ability of empathy to understand the players. Keep up the good work, Joe!

Mediocre at Best

[jon-15581 · 2/10 · 28 June 2018]

Okay, the come-on notes says this is an "intramural" game, but it's supposed to be a playoff game in some unidentified summer league. The players on both sides act like freshmen in high school or worse, but they all appear to be at least 24. Who ever heard guys beyond little league doing chants and cat-calls during a game. I guess the guys are older so they can say the F' word a lot, and go on about how hard life is beyond puberty. I kept watching it to see if there was a message someplace or some surprise ending like having a girlfriend pitch the last out. No, the message was "keep on trying." And the closing shots appear to be from the author/producer's little league or high school game. Oh well, keep on trying as there are a lot better sports movies out there.

They don't know

[montysox · 10/10 · 29 March 2020]

Negative reviews towards this film not being about "baseball" clearly have never played the sport. It's the beautiful game regardless of what stage it is just like Fotch says it's the game...we all still try to play it regardless of when and where. And even if you have no interest towards the game it still makes for a great film, there's a message for everyone in it.

Pretty good, inspiring, sometimes funny

[vchimpanzee · 3 May 2020]

I actually don't care that much about sports, but in a world where live sports are non-existent, your only options are classic games or TV episodes or movies about fictional games. Hopefully the real-world sports return soon (maybe when you read this it will have happened), but until then, here is one of your options.

I was going to say Dells looked like Brad Paisley but in fact when I saw the credits I realized he was Superman from The CW's "Supergirl". He is not nearly as likeable or heroic here. There is a "Barone's girlfriend" in the credits and a girlfriend says the F-word when insulted because her boyfriend refuses to slide, supposedly because he doesn't want to get dirty. That means the player must be Barone. The sound goes out a lot and I'm assuming the F-word would have been appropriate in these situations, but I saw this on broadcast TV.

Murray, the father of one of the players, is effectively played by the movie's writer/director Joe Mazzello.

Another good actor plays a man who has professional experience who comes back and tells the team some inspiring stories.

The umpire we hear the most from is Mike from "Mike and Molly" and Bob from "Bob Hearts Abishola". He believes in following the rules and isn't as friendly as those other two characters but he recognizes that he's not exactly in charge of an important game, and he just doesn't care all that much.

Even if a lot of things happen other than the game itself, this movie is about more than baseball.

The Bulldogs make nasty and often poetic taunts which are actually quite entertaining. They're as talented as a cheerleading squad. Taunts of various types continue throughout the movie.

The Bulldogs do not run over this team of losers like you would expect, but that doesn't mean there are not challenges. And laughs. And the ending is pretty exciting just when it appears all may be lost.

Is there a bench-clearing brawl? You bet! One like you may have never seen. Or maybe you have. The cops get involved. One has the attitude "I'm a cop. I can do what I want." He's funny and not mean.

And then comes the climactic moment. Everything moves very slowly and the video might even be slow motion. No audio except slow inspiring music. Lots of different camera shots, an extreme close-up. Then the video switches to important moments in the player's life. The credits kind of give away which player, but the flashbacks begin with several Christmases with his mother (whose absence from the game is not explained) where the player is so excited to receive something baseball-related. There is other audio again with the player and his father. Is washing his uniform important? Well, it's there. Trophies, big games, and then a return to what we were waiting to see happen.

And it's quite an ending.

I had a pretty good time.

Slow and slightly entertaining

[dar0417 · 5/10 · 13 January 2020]

Entertaining enough to watch but it's a low budget baseball film that is based on a true story. Just not enough going on and the whole film takes place at one baseball game.

Great Baseball movie

[antibodytherapeutics · 10/10 · 20 October 2017]

Coming from down under we do not see much baseball on TV. I have fallen in love with the game via movies such as Bull Durham and now subscribe to Minor league baseball TV so I can watch the Bulls play during the season. I watch other teams also as I work from home and have it on during working hours and I just love everything about the game including the 7 inning stretch. This movie just cracks me up it is funny and reminds me of playing rugby league at a lower level in Australia when I was much younger. There are also serious moments but best of all is the lifelong friendships created via team sports. This movie shows the funny and serious sides of amateur sports and is a great watch. I am disappointed with one reviewer here who seems only interested in promoting their own site than giving a true account of this great film. If someone feels the urge to want to punch everyone involved because they dislike a movie I think they should see a professional as they have deeper issues and I am speaking of viewsonfilm you need help of some kind or maybe "you know some people just need f$%king medicine they do"

Can't get enough!

[jordanshat · 10/10 · 5 March 2019]

Pretty incredible movie in my opinion. The whole cast did an incredible job and their performances together perfectly create the funny and endearing vibe you get throughout the whole movie. Absolutely hilarious all the way through. I've already rewatched it a couple of times and probably will again.

Very enjoyable

[philrogers2013 · 8/10 · 22 February 2019]

A movie with a lot of heart and spirit, some really funny moments too,the acting was very genuine, very good to see Chace Crawford play such a goofball as I wasn't sure he has that in his locker.

A must see, feel good movie for any family baseball fans

[krysti_payne · 10/10 · 29 November 2019]

I don't remember what made me give this movie my 20 minute rule, but I'm glad I did. Premise: When one of their teammates doesn't make the draft, the whole team is effected; then they played the game of their lives. This movie had me in stitches within the first 5 minutes and I didn't stop until I was crying with joy at the end. After watching 2 or 3 times, I roped my family (including the 21, 17 and 9 y/o kids) into watching it with me because we all play baseball. Yes, even my 17 y-o daughter & I. We love it so much that it has become a staple movie for us on Sunday family dinner & movie nights. Overall I recommend this movie to everyone who enjoys a baseball movie inspired by real life.

Those rare moments...

[fchestnut · 8/10 · 29 March 2020]

So many movies are made about the big Show, the big Leagues, some lesser leagues and so on with the usual big odds and big goals. Lots of drama or comedy, etc.

But this one shows a small but genuine moment in the life of a small team that barely matters over a single match that barely matters...

And it's awesome.

It's refreshing to see what can happen on a simple sunny saturday on that local field that you don't even glance anymore because it's just the decor you are used to and never thought anything special happen there.

There's a bit of overacting, some less believable moments. But there are also some hilarious moments and even though you might wonder what the hell you are watching up until the last third of the movie, it then sucks you in that moment with the players to live what is probably one of the best days of their lives.

A very nice movie. A very appreciated change of pace.

All time favorite baseball movie

[karenosterman · 10/10 · 28 February 2017]

My son and I have watched this movie over and over again. We absolutely love it. The entire movie keeps us laughing. It has a serious side when it comes to the actual love of the game and what parents and children go through when baseball is such a big part of their lives. Joe Mazzello did an excellent job directing and acting in this film. Murray and Vinnie kept us in stitches along with all the other cast members. Such a fun movie to watch. Obviously, Joe's brother John should have been drafted. We researched his batting average and all we could say was "Wow!". Great movie, love love love it.

Great Movie

[edgewoodsis · 10/10 · 29 April 2020]

I loved the humor a lot and I think that it was well done considering the low budget.

Recommend taking a chance on this movie.

[melbarretttt · 9/10 · 28 March 2022]

I don't get the bad reviews. It's definitely about baseball - hell, the ending alone is 100% what it's like to be in a sport all your life and/or to have a kid in sports. The characters are believable to me. If you've ever been on a sports team of any kind, you definitely know and/or know of characters like these guys. Anyhow, really well written, really well acted and pretty damn funny. What sold it for me was the way it was written at the end. VERY different from all of the other baseball movies out there. Aw man, I got all the feels for my brothers, and mysy in our young days in sports, as well as, the all the feels for my own kids in sports. It elevated the ending of that movie from what could have been just another predictable movie ending. Took it to a new plane. I have already recommended this movie to friends/family.

A must watch for anyone who has loved and supported the dreams of a young baseball player

[valentinek7 · 9/10 · 16 July 2022]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film. Joe Mazello does a great job paying homage to his brother's baseball journey. So many relatable moments. I laughed, I cried, I loved it.

Such a fun watch!

[Seekercloak27375 · 8/10 · 8 February 2022]

I love Tyler Hoechlin, Aaron Tveit, and a good baseball movie. This movie delivered! It's quite predictable, but comes with all the warm fuzzy feelings of watching a great baseball game. Loved it!