Watching "Cobb" is anything but an enjoyable experience, and yet I am glad to have seen it - - once. The title role is handled with great power by Tommy Lee Jones, who seems to have inhabited the fierce persona of Tyrus Raymond Cobb without becoming a caricature of that legendary sports figure. Yes, the acting is perhaps a bit over the top at times, but somehow those excesses fit well into the overarching story. Cobb was, after all, larger than life, even in his later years. The film is quite faithful to Al Stump's biography ("Cobb"), even to the point of Stump's appearance throughout the production as a character who receives at least as much screen time as Cobb himself. Few biographies, to my knowledge, place the author in such close proximity to the subject. Baseball action is nicely portrayed, mixing old footage with black-and-white recreations and often (Zelig- or Gump-like) placing Tommy Lee Jones among actual ballplayers and managers of the past. Watch for Roger Clemens as an opposing pitcher. It should be said that both the movie and the book concentrate much more heavily on the present day than Cobb's career with the Detroit Tigers. Indeed, maybe they should have been called "Cobb's Last Days," so lopsided are the narratives. Worth seeing, but rather unpleasant.
