agmtw logo
search

The Saint of Second Chances (2023)

The Saint of Second Chances (2023)

7.5

A playful and imaginative story about one man’s love for the all-American sport

Movie

United States of America
English, Polish
Documentary
2023
imdb
rt

TLDR

I don’t even like baseball like that (much less fully understand the sport), but I am a sucker for crowd-pleasing tearjerkers like this one.

What it's about

This documentary tells the story of how Mike Veeck, son of Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Bill Veeck, carved a path for himself outside of his father’s shadow, while also following the personal triumphs and heartwarming realizations Mike made along the way.

The take

You don’t need to know a lot about baseball to appreciate The Saint of Second Chances. It has enough going on to keep you hooked from start to end, beginning with Jeff Daniels’ inimitable voice as the narrator and Charlie Day’s inspired casting as the younger Veeck, all the way down to the Veecks’ fascinating ties with American sports history and Mike’s inspiring and heartwarming second-chance philosophy. It all gets a bit too much at times, as if the filmmakers themselves were overwhelmed with their abundant material and creative decisions, but it’s executed with so much care and love that it seems as if this is the only way it could’ve come out: a wonderful mess.

What stands out

Charlie Day! Reenactments are rarely this well-crafted and lively (often, they’re just faceless fillers), but Day and the filmmakers really seem to give it their all here. Furnished with slight prosthetics and costumed in era-changing outfits, Day commits to every heart-warming and rousing line he’s given. Mike Veeck is already an entertaining storyteller, filled with fanciful tales he injects with infectious laughs, but Day dials it up in such an impressive way, that it often feels as if the reenactments are their own standalone movie. 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

Silenced (2011)

A brutal and harrowing exposé of the schoolwide abuse case that sparked outrage in Korea

9.0

Hail Satan? (2019)

Forget everything you think you know about the Satanic Temple

8.0

Short Term 12 (2013)

Sweet, slow-moving, and possibly life-changing, this American drama shines the light on the chaos and crises of social work in America

9.9

Cold War (2018)

A quiet Polish masterpiece with ravishing music and dazzling visuals

9.2

The Farewell (2019)

Awkwafina shines in this complex culture clash comedy.

9.1

His Three Daughters (2024)

Three sisters deal with life and death in this moving family portrait

8.2

Forgotten Love (2023)

The stunning third take of the classic Polish pre-war melodrama

7.7

Booksmart (2019)

Two academic overachievers from high school set out to prove that they're a smart and fun for one last time.

9.0

Laapataa Ladies (2024)

Two brides are accidentally swapped in this refreshing comedy of errors

8.4

The Edge of Democracy (2019)

Mixing personal history with hardcore journalism, this is the story of Brazil's fragile democracy.

9.0

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2025 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.