ESPN (Sat., Sept. 25, 9 p.m. ET)
Say this for Tom Sizemore: He doesn't let vanity hinder his portrayal of tarnished baseball great Pete Rose in this largely superficial TV movie from director Peter Bogdanovich. Affecting a hunched gait—as if he's always on the verge of a headfirst slide—and wearing a hideous wig that approximates Rose's mop top of the '80s, Sizemore plays the ex-Cincinnati Reds star and manager as an out-of-control gambler and deceiver whose banishment from the game seems well-deserved.
While never uninteresting, Sizemore's performance seldom gets beyond caricature. Rose's errand boy Paul Janszen (Dash Mihok) comes across as such a sap that when a bookie says he's too dumb to live, you'll be apt to agree. Hustle doesn't strike out, but it's hardly Hall of Fame material.
