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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 55178
Released: October 2, 2001 |
| Our Price: $3.90 |
| Used Price: $0.88 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
In this hilarious fantasy for baseball lovers, Albert Brooks stars as a desperate Yankee scout who'll do anything to sign a new prospect. Banished to Mexico to search for talent, he discovers the greatest young ball player (Brendan Fraser) he's ever seen. But once he gets him back home, he finds his new recruit has a few unexpected problems that just may jeopardize both their jobs.
Description of The Scout:
Like the millions of fans who endured the St. Louis Cardinals' disappointing 1998 baseball season to watch the heroics of Mark McGwire, so will Albert Brooks devotees thrill to their comedy god stepping up to the plate in a rare starring role in a film he did not direct and knocking it, if not quite out of the park, then certainly to deep center field.
Brooks, sporting a paunch and a beat-up straw hat, stars as Al Percolo, a disheveled, down-but-not-out New York Yankees scout. His latest sensation, a high school phenom, blows his Yankee stadium debut after he unceremoniously throws up on the mound. Al is not fired, but instead banished to the backwaters of Mexico, where he discovers his own Babe Ruth and ticket back to the majors: local sensation Steve Nebraska, who has a 100 m.p.h. fastball and a titanic swing. As winningly played by Brendan Fraser, he is also an incredible screwball, part Encino Man and part George of the Jungle
The Yankees are willing to pay the outrageous salary of $55 million (those were the days!) for him. But first he must get a clean bill of mental health. That won't be easy for a guy prone to throw dinnerware at the press. In a scene that recalls Brooks's increasingly desperate lobbying to get casino owner Garry Marshall to return the nest egg his wife squandered in Lost in America, Brooks strikes out in his attempts to get Steve's psychiatrist, Dr. H. Aaron (Dianne Wiest), to rubber-stamp the case. As Al becomes a surrogate father to the troubled youth, Dr. Aaron uncovers dark secrets from his past.
While perhaps not in the same league as Bull Durham, The Scout will be a hit with everyone who loves baseball and Brooks (not to mention Brendan). --Donald Liebenson
The Scout Reviews:
Disappointed 
2008-08-02 - I love the movie but I am disappointed that they edited scenes from the original video .
The Scout
2007-06-08 - The scout was funny! I think at times there were moments that seem stupid. I guess that's what making movie's all about! I think you might enjoy it. It's actully better then I thought it be. That just proves never judge a movie by it's cover :)
Enjoy!
Very Strange Movie 
2007-03-06 - It starts out almost as a comedy but it turns dramatic halfway through.Definitely not on my top ten baseball movie lists but it is worth watching at least once.Brandon Frasier does a great job as does Albert brooks. Just seems like they switched writers in the middle of the show.
Brooks hits a home run!
2005-07-25 - This film was better than I expected. When I saw Albert Brooks in it I expected to see his usual self absorbed, neurotic, west coast Woddy Allen trip. No so. When I looked at the credits I noticed that for the first time (in recent memory) Brooks didn't write, direct, produce, in short forgo his usual Jerry Lewis routine of running the whole show. And in doing so he (excuse the pun here) hit's a home run! He's just great as baseball scout Al Percole who after failing to bring a winner to the Yankees is relegated to the Chili circuit as "punishment" from the Yankee general manager played wonderfully by Lane Smith. But instead of coming up with heartburn from eating the very questionable food (we see people down there chewing on animal legs at games) he discovers Steve Nebraska the greatest ball player since Babe Ruth played oustandingly by Brendan Fraser. Fraser matches Brooks laugh for laugh and in doing so the two make this a very entertaining movie. Not an easy thing to do considering there is not one love interest in either man's life. The movie rests squarely on the "buddy" formula which works very well here. In fact it's more of a father son relationship instead of a bonding buddy movie. So if you like quirky comedy's with the added benefit of a sports theme you're sure to like this one. So run out and rent.....no better make that buy The Scout. I'm sure you're going to want to "catch" this one again and again!
Will the real 'King Kong' please stand up? 
2005-04-22 - You don't have to love either Brendan Fraser or Baseball to love this movie! I should know, because I hate baseball, but love Brendan Fraser, and I may just be a tad bit prejudiced when it comes to him.
Although the scout is about Baseball, there isn't much involving the sport except for short blips of Albert Brook looking for his 'King Kong', and the ending sequince when Brendan shows us that he truly is the king of the field. Albert Brook is hilarous as the scout who is hunting for other new protege's for the Yankee's, and Brendan is the young man who he happens to find. In mexico that is. Why he's in Mexico, and how he got there is never really explained. That and if the shrink is really his mom, or just a really concerned lady. Yeah, the story has its holes, but the comedy more than makes up for it.
I won't say anymore, more is less, and in this case its better just to see this movie than hear me explain it.
Let the game begin!
