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Rated: PG; Genres: Biopic, Sports; With: John Goodman and Kelly McGillis
B+
By Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

THE BABE (PG) It tidies up Babe Ruth's more disreputable adventures and gives him a heart of gold besides. Yet on its own genially sweet terms, The Babe is charming-it's a PG-rated, fairy-tale Raging Bull. The movie understands the rich comedy of Ruth's appeal, the fact that the grandest athlete of the 20th century was, in one sense, barely an athlete at all. He was, instead, a kind of carnival showman, a big, soft, dumpling-shaped guy who knew how to perform one trick of genius, and who did it over and over. As Babe, an untamed man- child who's all appetite, John Goodman inspires extraordinary empathy. B+


Posted May 01, 1992
 

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