Parents' Guide to

Screwball

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Docu about MLB doping scandal has profanity, drugs.

Movie NR 2019 105 minutes
Screwball Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

In SCREWBALL, the highest-paid baseball player in history and the multi-million-dollar South Florida doping support system that supplied him were brought down over a $4,000 debt owed by a fake doctor to a gullible, spray-tanning-obsessed hanger on. Yes, Screwball is a documentary, but given the circumstances, it's almost by necessity also a comedy. Famous ball players flock to unlicensed physician Tony Bosch, who has a nutrition, weight-loss, and anti-aging "practice" through which he dispenses human growth hormone, testosterone, and other performance-enhancing drugs while wearing a white lab coat labeled "Dr. Tony Bosch." He devises micro-dosing protocols designed to avoid detection by Major League Baseball (MLB) drug tests. Lawyers, doctors, high school students, and cops are also among his large clientele. He travels with slugger Alex Rodriguez, injecting him in gas stations and other hidden spots, until he tests positive. Miraculously, ARod gets a wrist slap suspension and the story is swept mostly under the rug, until ARod appeals his suspension, pays to get his hands on evidence against him, which is when MLB starts throwing bribe money around, and Bosch, spending $6,000 a month on cocaine, goes on 60 Minutes and arouses the attentions of federal drug agents. Note that owing to the childishness of the cast of characters, the director was inspired to hire 8-to-10-year-olds to reenact scenes described in the interviewees' voices. The actors lip sync to colorful adult language that includes "f--k," "s--t." and "ass." Note that Bosch was indicted by the feds on charges related to delivering illegal enhancement drugs to minors, the high school athletes whose parents brought them to Bosch for that extra performance edge.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This movie might just as well be called "Comedy of Errors," and director Corben cleverly infuses the movie with the slapstick tone of the jokers who populate this story. Screwball opens with a Latin-beat rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," referencing ballplayers of Cuban extraction who were among Bosch's doping clients. Ironically, ARod had approached Corben to make a documentary about him. Corben was later also approached by the doping "doctor," Bosch, for the same self-glorifying reason. Neither project panned out but the material proved irresistible, leading Corben to attack it with a satisfying absurdist bent. Older teens, especially athletes, may find the whole story both entertaining and disturbing.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why people are motivated to cheat. Do you think professional athletes who doped, including Rodriguez, wanted to dodge declining performance of natural aging? Do you think it's okay to turn to drugs to enhance performance or should hard work and talent determine achievement?

  • What message do you think pro athletes send to kids when they cheat? What point does Screwball make about cheating?

  • Parents brought their high school athlete children to get them performance-enhancing drugs. Do you think teens would use such drugs if they didn't know that pros were already using them?

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