Why Can't I Be Existential Angst?

You know the credit card commercial with Tom Brady and his OL scrapping over who, metaphorically, should play "fraud monitoring"? Well, substitute in Rice, Boggs, Clemens, Stanley, Evans and Buckner and you'll have an idea of what the new movie "Game 6" is all about: The Red Sox as metaphor.

But in this case, it's a metaphor for the troubled life of New York playwright Nick Rogan—brilliantly portrayed by Michael Keaton. As unconvincing as Jimmy Fallon was as a die-hard Sox fan in "Fever Pitch", Keaton is dead-on as a Red Sox-lifer who fully understands the Greek Tragedy that was the pre-2004 Carmine Hose. Keaton's character is demonized by virtually every facet of his life: his troubled marriage, his alienated daughter, his spotty career. The Red Sox are just the touchstone that unifies all this angst into something he can get his mind around. They are what they are: Team Sisyphus.

The film (which was shot in 20 days for half a million bucks) is filled with other solid performances—particularly Robert Downey, Jr. as the eccentric theatre critic/white whale that Rogan has to slay. The resolution (which I won't give away) is clever and satisfying. So, should Red Sox fans fear going to this black comedy of errors (or at least one BIG error)? Not in the least. Go and see "Game 6" and revel in a movie that finally gets "The Red Sox Thing" right—even as just a metaphor.