J.K. Simmons is the primary heat-check choice for the mustache, chewing and manager mannerisms.
Jena Malone is a heat-check runner-up for the direct question about sleeping with her mother; her performance's promise is praised, while the final vote remains Simmons.
Clear the mechanism is praised as an enduring phrase.
Sam Tuttle is praised as an ideal Yankees villain, especially his attempt to bunt against the perfect game.
Brian Cox, John C. Reilly and J.K. Simmons are aged-best candidates; Simmons's genial manager is contrasted with his then-familiar violent racist character on Oz.
Against the Wind is an aged-best choice.
The old Yankee Stadium is an aged-best choice.
Vin Scully is credited with elevating the baseball from ordinary to exceptional; a reported interview suggests freedom to alter dialogue, and his real perfect-game experience adds authority.
Costner as a baseball player and in various states of undress are praised, particularly the locker-room changing and sensual handling of his glove.
Jane's restrained sexual presentation is criticized in contrast to Costner's, while a defense argues it differentiates her from his usual partners; her museum appearance is praised.
The relationship with Birch, nicknamed Scarecrow, is praised for handling friendship and a player's move for family and money without excessive emphasis.
Signing autographs during the couple's argument is praised as realistic for 1999, but also considered dated because phone cameras would now expose the conversation.
Gus’s reassurance speech is an aged-best candidate.
Obnoxious Yankees fans are an aged-best candidate; the caricatured hecklers remain amusing.
Gus's .184 batting average inspires a joking theory that the Tigers valued pitch framing before its wider recognition.
The catching footage is thought to rely on a double for Reilly, which is considered understandable given the fastballs.
The initial sexual arrangement is praised for honesty about Chapel’s behavior.
The flashback structure is preferred to conventional narration despite the weak romance.
Final aged-best choices split between Clear the mechanism and Costner as a baseball player, with Scully acknowledged as a tempting alternative.
The first-inning sequence is nominated, from insisting on Gus as catcher through the confrontation with Sam Tuttle; the manager exchange and J.K. Simmons are praised.
Access to Chapel's thought process makes the pitching duel compelling, contrasting the hostile Tuttle at-bat with his affection for Birch and comparing the mental approach to Bull Durham.
Talking aloud on the mound and the dialogue itself are considered devices that should fail but work because they feel convincing.
The apparent full crowd and grandeur of the old Yankee Stadium are praised, with preference expressed over its replacement.
The mound dialogue supplies welcome baseball history missing from the romance flashbacks, but the brief moving-out scene leaves the bond with Birch underexplored.
The masseuse sequence is nominated by both speakers: the suggestive massage, Jane's surprise arrival, his greeting and the masseuse appearing upstairs make the comic situation work.
The established relationship with the masseuse and immediate response to Jane declining the invitation are considered believable behavior for a professional athlete; the massage timing inspires a happy-beginning joke.
Chapel discovering the perfect game and Gus's reassurance are nominated; the speech is praised as Reilly's standout scene despite reservations about the rest of his performance.
A veteran pitcher failing to recognize a perfect game is challenged, especially given teammates avoiding him; the distraction is nevertheless accepted as useful for the scene.
The manager warming relievers and insisting he needs the game is considered less believable given the team's losing record and the perfect game in progress.
The attempt to replace Gus before what might be Chapel's final Tigers start is criticized as an implausible prioritization of the backup catcher's at-bats.
Mickey Hart saving the perfect game is nominated and praised for its payoff, cap acknowledgment and the manager's reaction; the actual catch is criticized as insufficiently athletic.
Mickey's earlier ball-off-the-head error recalls Jose Canseco, but the depicted Fenway wall is challenged as nonexistent.
Chapel discouraging Mickey from becoming a media joke is praised as valuable evidence of his generosity as a teammate and as material that should have formed more of the movie.
Mickey's failed-prospect setup leaves open the possibility that the catch could turn his career around.
Signing the retirement message on the baseball before the ninth is nominated; the delayed reveal, owner's reaction, manager's exclamation and Scully transition are praised.
The ninth inning is nominated, but the increasingly spectacular defensive outs culminate in an implausible diving shortstop play against an apparently quick runner.
A strikeout is proposed as the more fitting final out for the story's individual achievement theme.
An alternative ending in which the runner is safe and Chapel loses the perfect game is welcomed as interesting, while the filmed achievement remains emotionally effective.
Scully's climactic commentary is praised, with relief that Steve Lyons recedes from the broadcast late in the game.
The first dinner is nominated for engrossing badness: the notebook and lip-gloss exchange, awkward kissing question and later yes note create unintentional comedy, while Costner's appeal partly sells the moment.
The hand-saw accident and hospital sequence are nominated for their excessive drama, especially Jane's outburst, not joining the helicopter and visibly aggrieved reaction.
The makeup-smashing argument is nominated for unintentional comedy, particularly Chapel's solemn promise to hire a driver.
Mickey Hart's catch is the final scene choice, with the first inning also strongly praised.
The ninth inning sealing the perfect game is the other final choice, chiefly for Scully's commentary on baseball history.
