Ask any Red Sox fan about Bucky Dent and the response is always the same: a sigh and shake of the head as we dejectedly mutter, “Bucky fucking Dent.” For those of us who live and die with the Olde Towne Teame, Bucky Dent is a very specific avatar of heartbreak: the quiet, unassuming kind of heartbreak that you silently dismiss until it’s right in front of you, knocking a 1-1 pitch over the Green Monster in left.

It's the kind of wry, tragicomic heartbreak that courses through writer-director David Duchovny’s incredibly generous, very funny adaptation of his own novel. Starring Logan Marshall-Green, Bucky F**king Dent follows Ted, a Yankee Stadium peanut slinger writing the Great American Novel in his spare time. When Ted discovers his estranged, Red Sox fanatic father (played by Duchovny) has a terminal cancer diagnosis, Ted returns home to take care of the old man. While Ted’s father wants to make up for lost time and relive his youth, his health drops precipitously when the Sox take a loss. So Ted, along with a group of friendly locals, takes matters into his own hands and manufactures a winning streak. But it’s the 1978 baseball season and Bucky Dent is lurking…––Jason Gutierrez

David Duchovny