Moneyball (2011)
Certified: PG
Duration: 133 minutes
Directed by: Bennett Miller
Starring: Brad Pitt, Ken Medlock, Jonah Hill, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Casey Bond, Robin Wright
KRS release
Moneyball is an excellent film that can be appreciated by all those who like a good movie and even more so by anyone involved in sports.
Moneyball is a win/win for both sports and movie audiences- Johan Galea
Although the film is about baseball, there is no need to know the mechanics of the game as the story is rather about the players, the management, the families and the money involved.
Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics baseball team’s general manager who had been a teenage baseball sensation himself at high school.
However, his baseball career fizzled out and as a baseball manager, he manages to take his team to the brink of success but never overcomes the final hurdle to win thechampionship.
The reason is his team’s limited budget which results in him losing the best players to the bigger teams.
His team of advisers are stuck in theirways and never think big or differently.
That is when he brings Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a computer and economics wizard, on boar. The latter had been working for the Cleveland Indians.
Billy wants to use his knack for numbers to find cheap unwanted players to forge a winning team.
He is intent on going to the playoffs, but with his back against the wall he starts using Brand’s unorthodox methods which leads to some unusual situations.
He starts making trades with teams for players no one wants and leads to clashes with the team’s coach, Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Among the clashes and the start of a huge losing streak Billy starts to worry for his job. He also worries about the effect all this will have on his 12-year-old daughter Casey (Kerris Dorsey) whom he sees at irregular intervals since divorcing.
The film is based on the book by Michael Lewis titled Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.
It is characterised by the excellent chemistry shown by the unlikely pairing of Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.
The two feed off one another and never look incongruous sharing the screen. Brad Pitt also has some excellent sequences with young Kerrie Dorsey who plays his daughter.
This film shows how Mr Pitt has matured into an all-rounder – he delivers a strong persona effortlessly, yet exudes an aura of confidence. He increasingly looks likethe natural heir to screen icon Robert Redford.
The film follows one season of the Oakland Athletics and we are taken through the team’s ups and downs of the season to finally head off to an ending that hardly screams Hollywood.
Moneyball is a win/win for both sports and movie audiences. It is understated, no flash just human drama, and it has a dreamy quality anchored by its excellent cinematography and musical score.
Moneyball could have done with a little trimming, but overall it gets to first base and hits a home run.