Film

Keanu Reeves’ Heartbreaking R-Rated Drama Lands New Streaming Home 25 Years Later

25 January 2026

While Keanu Reeves is best known for the action genre, one of his more heartbreaking dramas is about to get a new streaming home.

Hailing from once-future Paramount chief Brian Robbins, Hardball served as an adaptation of Daniel Coyle’s 1994 novel of the same name, led by Reeves as gambling addict Conor O’Neill who, with no recourse for his debts to two bookies, begins coaching a youth baseball team in a housing project of Chicago to make the money needed to do so. Confronting both their personal and educational problems, Conor finds himself also growing along the way.

Now, 25 years after the film hit theaters, Hardball is about to get a new streaming home on Paramount+. The R-rated sports drama, which was mostly recently available to watch on Prime Video and Hoopla, will premiere on Paramount+ on February 1, in time for its exit from the latter platform on January 30.

Also starring Oscar nominee Diane Lane, Oscar nominee John Hawkes, Fire in the Sky‘s D.B. Sweeney and prospective Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan, Hardball was a modest success upon its release, grossing just over $44 million against its $32 million production budget. Hampered in part by having released just three days after the 9/11 attacks, as well as a mixed reception from critics, the R-rated drama did see a much more favorable response from audiences, netting it a 70% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Keanu Reeves and the kids standing on the field in Hardball

Hardball came at an interesting point in Reeves’ career for a few reasons. Even while fresh off the success of the original Matrix, and having been in the process of preparing for its back-to-back sequels, the star was gradually branching out beyond his action genre success with a variety of others, ranging from the similarly underrated Sam Raimi supernatural thriller The Gift to the Charlize Theron-co-starring romantic drama flop Sweet November.

The more notable was that Hardball was part of Reeves getting in on the sports genre’s resurgence on screen in the ’90s and early 2000s. The same era saw everything from Billy Bob Thornton’s Bad News Bears remake to Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore and Kevin Costner-led Tin Cup release to varying degrees of critical and commercial success. The baseball drama even marked Reeves’ second sports-centric project at the time, coming after the 2000 football comedy The Replacements, which was similarly met with a mixed critical response and became a cult favorite through home video and cable broadcasts.

10 Best Sports Comedy Movies Of All Time

There are sports movies that inspire and thrill audiences, but the best sports comedies leave audiences laughing long after the game is over.

As for Paramount+, Hardball‘s streaming premiere marks an interesting addition to their roster of Reeves-starring titles. On top of the R-rated drama, the platform is also home to the well-received rom-com Something’s Gotta Give, in which he starred alongside Jack Nicholson and late Oscar winner Diane Keaton, as well as the 2024 blockbuster hit Sonic the Hedgehog 3, in which he played iconic antihero Shadow the Hedgehog, a role he’s expected to reprise in one of the franchise’s next installments.

Even beyond Reeves, Hardball‘s new streaming home comes just in time for Michael B. Jordan’s upcoming competition for the Best Actor trophy at the Oscars. The 2001 drama was Jordan’s second-ever film and came just before his breakout turn in HBO’s The Wire, all of which built to his latest success with Sinners. Having the combined might of Reeves, a young Jordan and an emotional story at its core, the film could very well become an instant hit for Paramount+.