REVIEW: MONEYBALL

My Rating:

It's hard for me to believe, but I went to a movie about sports and actually enjoyed myself. For those that don't know, this self-described nerd gets very little pleasure from sporting events let alone movies about sporting events. Thankfully for me Moneyball has more to do with math and raging against the system, than it does about baseball. 


Moneyball is based on the true story of Billy Beane, (Brad Pitt) once a player, now general manager of the Oakland A's. Beane took his team to the World Series, ultimately losing the game and his three best players to richer teams. Working with a limited budget, Beane must build a winning team to order to compete. Beane teams up with Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who has a radical theory on player acquisition that goes against the excepted wisdom of baseball. Instead of buying players based on talent, Beane and Brand buy undervalued players who can get on base, score runs and ultimately win games. Using this new strategy the Oakland A's and Beane compete against the conventional wisdom of baseball in an attempt to prove everyone wrong.


The story tends to bounce around a bit, between Beane's history and the Oakland A's with no solid focus. Ultimately this isn't an issue because the movie resolves itself nicely in the end and scene by scene the movie works just fine. The dialogue is sharp, intelligent, witty and most importantly for me, engaging. Some of the baseball terminology and references flew over my head, but it didn't really matter because the dialogue was so compelling I was drawn in anyways. 


Pitt and Hill give some great performances, especially Hill. Not being a sports fan, it was through Hill's character that I was able to enter and relate to the movie. Seeing Hill play a more serious role was refreshing as well.


With solid acting all around, a fantastic script and an interesting premise Moneyball is a solid movie. Even for a non sports fan like myself! 

Released: September 2011
Length: 2 hr 6 mins
Directed by: Bennett Miller 
Written by:  Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin
Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Rating: PG-13