Movies don't come much more mawkish, simple and predictable than this join-the-dots sports yarn. They also don't come much more fun.

Keanu Reeves is Conor O'Neill, a down-at-heel Irish-American (did the name give it away?) who touts baseball tickets to scrape a living. Into the bookies for a life-threatening amount of moolah, he begs a pal for cash, only to be coerced into coaching an inner city black kids' baseball team for $500 a week.

At first he's reluctant, but, wouldn't you know it, our fashionably bedraggled hero soon begins to forge a bond with this rag-tag bunch of jive-talking Projects sprogs and cosy up to Diane Lane's comely teacher (Reeves: "I think reading's real good for kids").

Coming on like "Dangerous Minds" meets "The Mighty Ducks", "Hardball" works primarily because of Reeves. Portraying a character with surprising shades, he's charming, funny and extremely likable. Finally, it seems, he's learning to act. Lane gives good support in an underwritten role and the kids, while portraying a typical bunch of stereotypes (fat asthmatic kid, rebellious punk, etc) are hilarious - particularly DeWayne Warren as diminutive team mascot G-Baby.

The racial politics will make Spike Lee throw a shoe (everyone who needs help is black, everyone who gives it is white) and the final 25 minutes drastically veer away from the feelgood glow of the first 80. But undercutting any cynicism is the fact that John Gatins' screenplay is based, however loosely, on real-life events (Daniel Coyle's acclaimed non-fiction book "Hardball: A Season in the Projects").

Heavy-handed it may be, but here's a mainstream, popcorn movie unafraid of attempting to highlight the problems of urban America, and with enough wit and charisma to make it ideal Friday night fare.