“Moneyball,” based on the critically-acclaimed book by Michael Lewis, isn’t just a sports movie.
Yes, it follows the 2002 Oakland A’s baseball season and how General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) arguably redefined the game.
But it’s really about tragic-hero Beane. After turning down a full scholarship to Stanford, Beane goes to a failed major-league baseball career and eventually finds himself running the front office of one of the poorest teams in the country. Saddled with the predicament of being unable to pay the best players, Beane looks to Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), an economics graduate from Yale, for an alternate team-building plan. Beane and Brand build a team using statistics in an attempt to card-count the system.
The script is fast paced and the rapid-fire dialogue is brought to life by Pitt and Hill’s solid deliveries.
Pitt carries the film as Beane — an obsessive who hates losing more than he hates winning. His nuanced performance shows the different facets of Beane’s personality.
The smaller stories, including the players recruited by Beane, are also compelling. Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt), a former catcher forced to learn first base when he joins the Oakland A’s, plays a small role in the film but still manages to provide an emotional anchor for the audience.
“Moneyball” is able to capture most of the key baseball moments and biographical highlights of the book, even in an altered form.
Easily one of the best movies of the year, it provides a rare insight into the front office of major league baseball teams that even non-sports enthusiasts can connect with and enjoy.