The special thing about Eephus is that there’s nothing particularly special about it. Carson Lund’s directorial debut never swings for the fences, instead resting on bone-dry comedic observations and characters to subvert the sports drama. It’s an indie film through and through, devoid of false sentimentality, stakes, and character development, and while its originality is appreciated, it could still use some refining.

For all its laid back, hangout vibes, there’s a lingering, understated sadness at the heart of Eephus. We learn at the start of the film that the local little league field is set to be redeveloped into a school, and the softball game which takes up the majority of the film will be the final game played there. But the players aren’t on the cusp of greatness, nor are they former All Stars looking to rekindle their glory days. Rather, they’re just a bunch of middle-aged and near retirees, united by their love of the game.

Fittingly, Eephus isn’t populated by A-list actors either, which contributes to its everyman charm. We only infer the backstories of most of the characters through quick asides and overlapping dialogue, but it’s of secondary importance. Those looking for a main character to latch onto may leave the film disappointed, but Lund – who wrote the screenplay with Michael Basta and Nate Fisher – spreads the wealth to make each character an equal part of the team. Eephus is a film where Lund, Basta, and Fisher give their actors free reign to make them feel lived-in people whose lives exist outside the confines of the film.

If there’s any schmaltz to be found within the film, it’s buried deep under a layer of bone-dry humor (Eephus, more than anything, is a hysterical film). The players clearly love the intricacies of baseball – the name of the film comes from a difficult, almost mythical style of pitch – and of playing with one another, of showing they can still do something with their lives. Nevermind the interstitials showing the passing phases of the day populated by a famous quote about baseball, delivered by Frederick Wiseman, no less. Imagine the kids of The Sandlot coming back to that same field after the realities of life have set in, and still harboring that same fondness. Even without a lifetime of playing the game, there’s something innately relatable about the camaraderie within the film.

Each inning progresses with the same methodical pacing of a real baseball game, and between each play, we hear all manner of snarky asides and insights about their psyches. These are men who have a deep-seeded familiarity with each other, and know how to get under each other’s skins – leading to some of the best laughs of the film. Hangout films can occasionally be a tough sell, and Eephus‘s unshowy, sometimes listless nature can make its runtime feel longer than it is. But those willing to invest in the story can find an easy way to love the film.

Lund’s fondness for baseball, its eccentric personalities, and those that are drawn to the sport’s orbit, bleeds through the pores of the film. Classic sports films like Hoosiers or Field of Dreams go out of their way to explain how much the game means outside of the confines of the field, but Eephus espouses the same sentiments by simply depicting the game as it happens.

Eephus is now playing in theaters nationwide.

OSCAR POTENTIAL:

• None