COSTNER CAN'T CRACK HIS SLUMP WITH THIS WEEPY ODE TO BASEBALL.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

Can Tom Hanks please give Kevin Costner a good talking to?

Not about career management, although it would be nice to see Costner try to support his shaky superstar status by aiming high for a change. But that's probably a lost cause; more urgently, someone really needs to tell this guy that there's no crying in baseball.

``For Love of the Game'' is a women's baseball weepie as surely as ``Field of Dreams'' was a three-hankie hitter for men. When it's not superficially but ever-so-solemnly raking over every sports hero cliche in the record book, it's superficially but ever-so-sensitively examining a romance that, frankly, isn't interesting enough to warrant examination.

Or, at least, not extended examination. Like most of Costner's delusionally dramatic efforts, this movie lasts much longer than the story it has to tell can support. Costner has been complaining vigorously that Universal Pictures cut even more, supposedly adult and character-deepening footage. Maybe, but considering the pointless elephantiasis the actor's indulged in the likes of ``Wyatt Earp'' and ``The Postman'' recently, it's a safe bet that the Universal suits were just trying to spare the audience.

Adapted from a novel by Michael Shaara, the film charts a really eventful couple of days in the life of Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel (Costner). They're centered around a late season game in New York, when the team's just been sold and its aging, dependable workhorse has to consider moving on while pitching what's shaping up to be a perfect game.

As if that's not enough for a dedicated, talented, all-around great guy to deal with out there on that Yankee Stadium mound, Billy's girlfriend has just called it quits. One of those single moms who can afford a roomy Manhattan apartment on a free-lance magazine writer's income, Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston) is heading off to a real job in London because, she's told Billy, ``You, the ball and the diamond; you're perfect together.''

Perhaps wondering where such rotten dialogue came from, Billy thinks back over his five-year relationship with Jane as the innings tick by, although there's really not much to chew over. From the start, he seemed gentlemanly and committed to her in a way, we presume, he never felt toward any other woman in 35 years. Not that we'd know, however; in a movie that's at least half flashbacks, all we ever really learn about Billy personally is that he loved baseball.

And, darn it, that's the problem. This guy whose whole livelihood and identity is wrapped up in his job, though patient and generous and affectionate and funny, just may care a little more for the game than he can for another person, and Jane can't abide it. It's supposed to be the movie's big romantic conundrum, but you keep wondering why these two can't settle this glitch in what is obviously the best relationship of both their lives with a genuine adult conversation or two.

Probably because they only have genuinely adult conversations in Costner movies that Ron Shelton writes. Indeed, as the unmotivated romantic complications and rote, beat-the-odds athletic hurdles wear on into the cinematic equivalent of extra innings, your mind can't stop wandering to the actor's smart sportsman portrayals in ``Bull Durham'' and ``Tin Cup.'' And even though those films were unapologetic comedies, they somehow put across the actual playing more persuasively than ``Love'' does.

Which is not to say that Sam Raimi doesn't try. The director, known for his hyperkinetic ``Evil Dead'' and ``Darkman'' movies, has a great way with a fastball. But as with his previous, much more successful feature ``A Simple Plan,'' he opts for a greatly restrained cinematic style here. It was great for focusing attention on the earlier film's carefully conceived and developed characters, but since there's no one remotely like that in this movie, you just feel gypped out of what could've been a rare chance to watch baseball move really fast.

As compensation, you get to see Kevin Costner cry. Maybe if he'd managed his career like Tom Hanks, this could have been avoided.

The Facts

The film: ``For Love of the Game'' (PG-13; sex, language).

The stars: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Sam Raimi. Written by Dana Stevens, based on Michael Shaara's novel. Produced by Armyan Bernstein and Amy Robinson. Released by Universal Pictures.

Running time: Two hours, nine minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two stars.