After seeing THE SCOUT again on TV, I've come to accept that the main problem with the film is that it's actually two completely different films smashed together. On the one hand you've got the comedy surrounding Albert Brooks and his hunt for that one baseball player who will save his scouting career. As one of our great comic screen writers, Brooks delivers some witty lines now and then, particularly in the first part of the film. However, the second film is a half-written drama dealing with the emotional/mental problems of Steve Nebraska, Brendan Frasier's character. There's next to know explanation and/or resolution to his emotional storyline, and although the wonderful Diane Wiest as his psychiatrist is on the team, she barely makes it to the warm-up spot and pretty much fades out without much ado. Screenwriter Brooks keeps tossing tantalizing hints into Frasier's emotional mix - the laundry concerns, for example -- but then does nothing with them. By the last inning, THE SCOUT can't decide whether it's FEAR STRIKES OUT or MAJOR LEAGUE.
