The baseball soars through the air, landing easily in the outfield. All eyes are rooted on an outfielder for Westside Little League as he grabs the ball and throws it back to home plate with all his might. As it cuts through the wind, spectators hold their breath, hoping the ball hits home.
It doesn’t. Instead, it smashes through the glass of the concessions stand’s popcorn machine.
Despite the broken glass, Coach Bobby Ratliff clings to hope that the team (and in it, his son) can come back from a 9-0 deficit. Meanwhile, Coach Jon Kelly hardly looks up from the legal paperwork stretched across his lap in the dugout. It’s clear the bumbling team is set to continue its losing streak all the way through this final game, so the full-time corporate attorney figures he might as well use the time to catch up on work.
He’s right. Soon enough, it’s yet another strikeout. Game—and season—over.
But then Texas Little League representative Kliff Young approaches Jon, asking whether he and his team might be interested in going to the playoffs for the Little League World Series championships. As Jon soon learns, Westside didn’t earn this chance; rather, they got it by default. No other team wants to play against this array of elite baseball clubs.
It’s a tall order, to be sure. The teams they’d face are fearsome indeed. But in order for Kliff to retain his sponsors, he’s got to send a team in the tournament … so what’s one more loss for the worst team in the league?
Well, Jon’s not interested in taking the offer—at least, not at first. But that’s before Bobby approaches him, informing him that he had recently been diagnosed with an advanced form of melanoma. And recognizing that Bobby might not make it to the next season, Jon chooses to take Kliff’s offer, if only to let Bobby enjoy seeing his son play one more game of baseball.
Or … perhaps they could try their hardest to win for once and qualify for the Little League World Series.
Bobby offers many words of wisdom to his children. He likewise tells them that he’ll never be disappointed in them as long as they’re giving it everything they’ve got. And even though it’s clear he is in pain, Bobby consistently watches his son, Robert, play in order to support him.
Sam, the owner of a baseball-card shop, reminds the Little League team that having fun and working together is more important than winning. He likewise teaches them to rally behind a unified cause, and the boys choose to rally behind Bobby. “Bobby’s always been there for us,” one boy says. “Now, it’s time we’re there for him.” Later, Sam provides his expertise to the team to help the pitcher throw more consistently.
A neighbor offers her support to Bobby’s wife, Patti. Though Bobby’s enduring the worst of his cancer and treatment, she recognizes how weighty it is for Patti, too.
Bobby begs God to not take him from his family, which Robert overhears. Robert asks Bobby why God would take him when he hadn’t done anything wrong; Bobby says that getting sick is merely bad luck. They talk about heaven, and Bobby hopes he’ll go there when he dies. “I think we just have to trust that there’s something really beautiful and peaceful on the other side of all of this.”
Later, after Robert hears news that Bobby isn’t doing well, he runs onto a baseball field and screams “I hate you!” into the air, presumably at God.
A boy makes the sign of the cross.
Outside of the film, it should be noted that You Gotta Believe, the sports organization for which the movie is named, names faith and attitude as a mainstay of its program. “The importance of faith and attitude will be stressed throughout the camp because, without faith and attitude, nothing is possible,” the website reads. “Each camp coach is a faith-based man and understands the importance of having a relationship with God.”
A neighbor tells Patti that she should keep Bobby on a “regular schedule” to release tension wrought from his cancer and the chemotherapy. She also briefly references putting socks in her bra to hide her breast-cancer-induced mastectomy.
A player on the team has a deep crush on a girl in the stands and makes many references to wanting to date her. Jon tells the player that improving his performance in baseball will make him successful and “might just get [him] some.”
Bobby and Patti share a kiss. Bobby kisses Patti’s neck and jokes about “checking her vitals.”
We hear a couple of euphemisms to male body parts.
A boy sprains his ankle after colliding with another player. Someone coughs up blood. A player falls to the ground after getting hit in the head with a baseball. A couple batters are struck by the pitched ball. In a daydream, one player gets spit on, and he punches the attacker. One boy insults another by claiming that he’ll shove his dirty underwear down the boy’s throat. A man collapses to the ground. A flung bat smashes through a windshield.
[Spoiler Warning] Someone passes away.
The s-word is used once. We also hear a handful of instances of “d–n” and “crap.” There’s one use of both “a–” and “h—.” God’s name is used in vain seven times. Likewise, Jesus’ name is used in vain once.
As for lesser crude language, the kids often say “dang,” and they often throw creative insults at one another, like “fart face” or “bug muncher.” An upset coach yells out “mother scratcher.”
A man sips a beer. Jon describes a location as having “gin-clear streams,” and he asks for a hard truth to be delivered softly by saying that he likes “a little water with [his] whisky.”
The children often make reference to flatulence. There are a couple references to bull poop, and we see some of it. People vomit.
A boss is rude to his employee. Some children (and an adult) mock Bobby for his cancer.
You Gotta Believe tells the story of the 2002 Fort Worth Westside All-Star baseball team—one that, despite the odds, found unexpected success in the Little League World Series.
In reality, however, that’s only half the story. The other half centers around Coach Bobby Ratliff, to whom the team dedicated their games. As Ratliff persevered as long as he could in spite of his skin cancer, the boys persevered through their baseball games, motivated by Ratliff’s iconic advice: “You gotta believe.” That advice had a deep impact on Ratliff’s children, who would start You Gotta Believe Camps in his honor—camps which continue to this day.
The PG film will resonate with audiences due to its impactful retelling of a true story—made even more heartfelt with the real Robert Ratliff’s appearance at the end of the film. You might have to blame the tears in your eyes on the dust from the baseball field.
But speaking of dust, there are some issues that prevent You Gotta Believe from being a clean watch. Language, though mostly mild, gets a little rough with a use of the s-word and multiple misuses of God’s name. And a couple sexual innuendos likewise fly out of fair territory.
Because of those issues, You Gotta Believe won’t necessarily be a home-run watch. But for families that can negotiate its issues, it might rack up some runs all the same.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Our weekly newsletter will keep you in the loop on the biggest things happening in entertainment and technology. Sign up today, and we’ll send you a chapter from the new Plugged In book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family, that focuses on how to implement a “screentime reset” in your family!