MONEYBALL (REVIEW)
Rated
M - 133 mins
Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright,
Tammy Blanchard, Julie Wagner
This is not a traditional sports
movie. However inspiring and uplifting it may be, Moneyball embraces winning in
an untraditional way. A true story of a struggling major league baseball team
in Oakland with the nation's lowest salaried players who put together a 20 game
winning streak - a new American record. The team began the season with 11 losses
in a row and this film tells the now legendary heroic, intense and moving tale
of what happened in between.
I walked in to see this unprepared
for the depth and intelligence laid out before me. As usual since making an instant
impact in Thelma & Lousie, Brad Pitt is terrific as former player Billy Beane,
moving into management with a drive to win and faced with rebuilding the struggling
team. Beane is persuaded by the theories of Peter Brand (Jonah Hill of 'Supabad'
& 'Get him to the Greek' fame) a recent Yale graduate who simply loves crunching
numbers and suggests a new cost benefit way of surviving. Working together turning
their attention for the first time ever in baseball history in an attempt to use
statistical data to analyse which players to pick. Doesn't sound like much now,
but the new format involving past performances of individuals was a first of its
kind and didn't sit well with many veterans of the game.
Exciting
archival footage of former 'Red Sox' icon Johnny Damon will please those familiar
with the game. An inward and lonely man, Beane is recovering from a failed marriage
and the attention of a doting daughter (Kerris Dorsey in a remarkable performance).
So motivated, he can't bear to watch a game from within a stadium at times opting
to drive around meaninglessly listening to the radio call.
A
movie cultivating notoriety in the high strung arena of competitive sport stays
grounded enough to care about these interesting characters. There are plenty of
laughs amongst the dramatic composition, but only a few are intended, most of
the humor comes from recognition of irony and insights into human nature. Melancholy
moments come via soul baring scenes with Pitt and Hill. More than just a pretty
face, Pitt has established a varied body of significant work such as 'Fight Club',
'12 Monkeys' and Burn after Reading'. Here he does it again transforming what
could have been a sporting stereotype into full intellectual glory. Another Oscar
nomination could well be on the agenda.
Better known for his
outrageousness, Hill's performance is understated and fascinating, an amusing
contrast to the fellow tobacco chewing scouts who are looking for all the wrong
things, according to the zippy graduate Peter Brand. Take the chance, see Moneyball
with an open mind and a desire to walk out of the cinema on a natural high. Professional
sports are all about business these days, cynical business it may be with the
fans usually an after-thought, not in the case of this fantastic journey in true
universal underdog spirit. Knowing nothing about baseball only adds to the must-see
aspects of this movie.
Shane A. Bassett
