First the conundrum, I love baseball movies but don’t especially like the game itself and would never even entertain the thought of actually watching an entire game. So when I head that Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) was working on the screenplay for the Bennett Miller (Capote) take on Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball: The Art Of Winning An Unfair Game, I was intrigued.
Lewis’ book follows the reinvention of baseball by using computer and statistical analysis to achieve the desired individual results and bypasses the traditional way that teams scouted players and as a topic of a ‘sports movie’ presented quite the challenge. It’s to the filmmaker’s credit that a subject that could have resulted in a very dry cinema experience has been turned into such a warm human examination.
The acting is excellent throughout and Brad Pitt continues to fill out an ever evolving and interesting resume of acting jobs while Johan Hill is quite effective in one of his first serious roles. There are no real heroes or villains in the piece but that still doesn’t prevent you from rooting for Pitt’s character, Oakland A’s manger Billy Beane as he tries to reinvent the team.
In the same way that The Social Network turned zeros and ones into an engaging topic, Moneyball succeeds as both human drama and as a case study of how science changes both our business and leisure worlds. Regardless of your like or dislike of the actual game itself, Moneyball will provide a very entertaining time. As for motivating one to watch an actually game, the conundrum remains intact.
Rob Hudson
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