Usually you expect a Baseball film to be a rather happy one. Some kind of slice of life or really competitive sports title. Well, this one decides to switch things up a bit by being more of a dramatic, sad affair. The tone manages to still stay light for the most part but there is something looming over you the whole time. I would say how much you enjoy the film may come down to how sad you find it.

The movie starts with Bruce finding out some bad news, he is dying. He has a rare disease that is quite fatal and will begin to deteriorate his body over time. Only Bruce and his best friend Henry know about this and they decide not to tell anyone. Although naturally that begins to be a hard secret to keep for very long so eventually more and more people find out. How will Bruce handle his impending death?

Nobody knows the exact point of their death and that’s why it can always be an interesting topic. If you know that you will most likely die within the next year, how would that affect your life? I imagine for some people it would be a little liberating. For others it would be rather scary. It depends on what you believe happens after death. As a Christian I’d be rather excited since that means I’ve made it to the end of the road. Of course you’d rather not deal with the pain and all but there’s nothing scary about death. If anything it can be seen as something to look forward to, although of course you can’t rush it.

If you don’t have a solid future to look forward to, then of course it’s going to be sad and depressing. The film is definitely banking on this being a really sad affair and so that’s where I’d say it doesn’t land quite so effectively. It’s not a bad film by any means but I’d put it near the middle. It has some pretty funny scenes and I actually thought the humor was really on point when it would let the jokes fly. If anything this film would have been a really good comedy and they could have just had the doctor show up at the end and say it was a false positive. Of course it’s just not that kind of film but that would have been an interesting way to go about it.

Throughout the film, Henry shows himself to be a great friend. He helps Bruce out a lot with getting everything straightened out and also doesn’t let the guy get taken for a sucker by a lady with big ambitions. It would have been nice if he could have gotten Bruce to really understand what was happening a bit more but when love is involved that can get really tricky. In the worst case, you could blow up the friendship right when Bruce needs it most. So Henry made the tough call and things worked out well enough.

Even though Bruce was the one dying, Henry certainly had to endure a whole lot on his end as well. He even crashes out at one point which is fairly obligatory in films like this but still more on the annoying side. That was a whole lot of property damage after all. Meanwhile Bruce wasn’t the smartest guy around but he did his best to always be a nice guy. By the end he even started playing a little better and everyone started being nicer to him. So at least he got to end things off on a high note.

Meanwhile there is a subplot where the coach is trying to figure out what is going on and keeps on getting closer to the truth. I really liked how determined he was and no amount of lies could keep him away. It’s why he was a good coach, he knew his players inside and out. It can be tough to call out a lie but he never backed down. The scenes are also played up quite a bit with the humor and they end up being quite funny.

The writing is solid throughout and the pacing is pretty good as well. On a technical level I didn’t really have any problems with the film. It will just have a hard time keeping your attention the whole time because there just isn’t a whole lot to it. It feels like the film is missing something and it’s hard to say exactly what that would be. One possibility would be to have continued the film after Bruce’s death and now Henry has to fight that one lady in court. That could have been a pretty interesting climax even if it would be a bit far away from Baseball at that point. Alternately maybe more Baseball scenes? I’m not quite sure if that is what would really take things all the way through to the next level but just some things I’d throw out there as possibilities.

Alternately maybe a first act to see more of Bruce’s dynamic with the team before he actually gets really sick. That could work as well and really show us more of a contrast on how they all act after they find out that he is dying. We certainly have less screentime of the original dynamic compared to the new one. The team never really struck me as bad guys either. Yes there was quite a bit of ribbing but that seems normal for any kind of sports team. Maybe I’m just too used to it at this point but for example nothing in the film felt particularly malicious. They did their best to walk on eggshells later on and be extra nice but for some, they’d probably prefer to keep going with the banter and act normal.

Overall, Bang the Drum Slowly is a reasonable film. It doesn’t have a whole lot of replay value and could have probably either focused more on the humor or added another subplot to keep you engaged. That said, it’s a very unique kind of Baseball film so you could definitely check it out on that basis. It’s certainly not trying to be a clone of anything else or being generic in any sense. There is even a sad song that plays at one point during the film to try and drill the message home.

Overall 5/10