Moneyball

While most sports movies tell the story and derive the emotional impact from the progression and the plight of the players involved, Bennett Miller's Moneyball takes a different approach to the sports genre.  This is probably appropriate, because the movie itself is about taking a different approach to running a baseball team.  The movie follows Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) the General Manager of the Oakland A's baseball team who finds himself losing marquee players at the end of a season, and very little budget to fill those spots.

On a trip to talk baseball and trades with the Cleveland Indians, Beane meets a young intern named Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) whose input seems to carry some weight.  Brand is very quiet, awkward, and lacking in the self confidence department, which makes Beane obsessed with finding out why Cleveland management listens to his opinions.  After much pestering, Beane finally gets Brand to share his view of baseball, and how the system of developing teams is out-dated and antiquated.  He believes that new statistics tracking can give insight on players that are normally overlooked, are easy to acquire, and cost very little money.  Beane, the foreward thinker that he is, hires Brand as his assistant GM and adopts this new sabermetric approach to attempt to level the playing field between his low budget team and the teams with endless supplies of money who can buy whatever players they want.

What always makes a great sports story is the underdog appeal, and there is a lot of it in Moneyball.  We get to watch as the season plays out and gain a sense of how the team is underperforming at the beginning, the mounting angst of the fans, and the media who are baffled by this new approach to managing the game.  The A's seem to be in a dire situation, both externally and internally, and so when things start to click for them we get a true sense of the underdog trying to pull through.

As I mentioned, most sports films follow the players through the season and we become connected through their perseverance and performance.  In Moneyball, we see very little of the game itself, as it predominantly tracks Beane who never actually attends the baseball games.  However, we are still able to feel that connection to what is happening on the field with cut away footage, announcer voiceovers, and audio of media and call in sports shows.  There are times when you have multiple audio tracks of the media and call in radio shows over lapping, and I felt like this effectively produced the feeling of the constant comments and pressure that Beane would be undertaking.

Because this film mostly follows Billy Beane, it is important for us to really know who he is, and Bennett Miller makes sure we get a very good sense of his past and how that has shaped him into the person he is when we see him.  We get a decent performance from Pitt who is able to show the unbending will of Beane, the calmness that he portrays in front of his staff, and the inner struggles he has with himself over his obsession to win.

It would be unfortunate to talk about performances without mentioning Jonah Hill's Oscar nomination worthy performance, and as well the job that Philip Seymour Hoffman (I always want to call him 'Sir Philip Seymour Hoffman'... it just sounds like it could work).  Hill plays his character in a way that is so opposite to the types of movies he has been known for, and becomes endearing to audiences as the quiet fish out of water.  Hoffman plays the A's coach, who is resistant to the changes, and unfortunately has very few scenes.  Every single time I saw him in this movie, it felt like I was looking at an honest to goodness major league coach, and it took me a few scenes to realize who it was.

One of the themes of the film that I loved was the constant battle of the new versus the old.  We see a system that has operated for over a hundred years being questioned, and the response of protectionism that many people have.  This theme is something that each of us deal with in every day life, and I always enjoy character studies of those who see the need, those who can be convinced, and those who refuse to even engage in conversation.  A good friend of mine recently wrote an article on the death of the video store, and highlights the once mammoth Blockbuster Video.  While the industry was starting to shift and change, they were still slowly charging more and more for new releases (I remember paying near $8 on one of my last visits, almost the price of theatre admission) and operated in a fashion as though the clientele would always be there regardless of where the market was heading.  They deserve no sympathy from me, but they do highlight the fact that even when we are stuck in our ways, we should at least entertain the questions and other possible approaches.  Perhaps this is just a favorite theme of mine, but Moneyball highlights it extremely well, and the battle that Beane must go through as he stakes his entire reputation on an unproven theory.

For those who love sports movies and for those who love good character stories, this movie serves as both.  It is no wonder that it gained a nomination for Best Picture, because it entertains and stirs up emotions as well.  It does not follow the typical Disney sports movie format, which is refreshing in itself, but it does still create the same romanticism towards sport as the great Sandlot.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars