Film: Moneyball
Cast includes: Brad Pitt (The Tree of Life), Jonah Hill (Get Him to the Greek), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Robin Wright (The Conspirator)
Director: Bennett Miller (Capote)
Screenplay: Steven Zaillia (Shindler’s List), Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)
Genre: Baseball drama, based on actual events (2011)
October 1, 2001… the Oakland A’s lose the American League Division Series to the New York Yankees. But what’s worse is that the A’s are also losing three of their best players to teams with deeper pockets. Seems like the A’s are the farm team for NY Yankees. General Manager, Billy Beane really wants to win a championship, but let’s face it… Oakland is a small market. They can’t compete with big-market teams. The scouts sit around a table ranking their draft prospects… asking questions like, “what’s wrong with a player having an ugly girlfriend?” “Ugly girlfriend means no confidence.”
If Billy can’t compete with money, how can he build a championship team? That’s when he meets Peter Brand, a recent economics graduate from Yale. Peter doesn’t look at players… he looks at stats. “You shouldn’t be buying players… you should be buying wins… and that means buying runs.” Billy believes this approach is the A’s only hope. “We’re the last dog at the bowl… the runt of the litter,” he tells the scouts. Billy’s looking for undervalued players… and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about their girlfriends. Is Billy destroying the tradition of baseball… discounting what scouts have done for 150 years? Or is he on the brink of finding a totally new way to play the money game?
While Moneyball has taken some liberties with the events and the portrayal of characters, it’s based on the true story of Billy Beane, based on the 2003 book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis. It gives us a look at the side of the sport we don’t usually see… the business side. It’s extremely well done… excellent story, terrific dialog, first-rate performances, etc. In my opinion, there are two reasons why audiences love movies about baseball. For starters, baseball movies are usually not just about baseball. They’re also about life. Scratch the surface of Moneyball and you’ll find a lot of juicy lessons on life and our times. And secondly… a good baseball movie gives you goose bumps when the underdogs are victorious. While the final chapter of Billy Beane’s career may not have been written yet, Moneyball delivers some great goose bump moments.
4 popped kernels
There’s more to baseball than player salaries… you’ve gotta get on base
Popcorn Profile
Rated: PG-13
Primary Audience: Young adults
Gender Appeal: Any audience
Distribution: Mainstream wide release
Mood: Upbeat
Tempo: Zips right along
Visual Style: Nicely varnished realism
Character Development: Engaging
Language: True to life
Social Significance: Pure entertainment & informative
