Moneyball

I love sports movies and especially underdog stories. This film was good but I don’t really see why it is getting so much attention. There are a lot of other sports films that I feel are better than “Moneyball”. The show didn’t feel as fun as I was expecting and there was very little baseball in it. I understand however that baseball action was not meant to be part of this film. The story of the film is how the 2002 Oakland A’s were put together and their success on the field is secondary in importance to the main story of Billy Beane. I do feel however that the arc of emotion that the story exudes is unbalanced.

I like the use of archival television footage in this movie. For those who followed Oakland in the 2002 season, it gives the film a reality. One of my favorite scenes in “Moneyball” is when Scott Hatteberg is recruited. The portrayal of his family and modest house makes him a very appealing character. This plot point is paid off when Hatteberg hits the home run towards the end of the film. The movie also has a great use of montage of Billy finally associating with the team and telling them how to work the system. The depiction of the Royals game was pretty good. I think the reason why we don’t see much baseball in the movie is that it is symbolic of the way that Billy follows the season in that he doesn’t watch it out of superstition. Personally, I don’t understand people like that. The fun of sports is not about winning or losing but about how your team won and you can’t fully enjoy those amazing sports moments as much if you don’t see them live. That is just my opinion however. I like the closing of the film in that Billy must decide whether to leave Oakland for Boston and become the highest paid GM in baseball history or stay in California. The reason why he is having trouble deciding is that this decision resembles the one he had to make as a kid. That decision ended up being the wrong one and he would hate to ruin his life again. Brand gives some good advice in that if he accepted the offer, he is not doing it for the money but “what the money says”. In the end, he doesn’t go to Boston. We understand, due to the last scene of the film, that Billy turns down the offer because of his daughter. The story of the movie resembles that of where the hero dies but his legacy will change everything like “Braveheart”. In the case of Billy Beane’s story, he loses the chance of being part of Boston’s World Series win and he is still trying to win the last game of the season. On the upside, his and Brand’s methods resulted in the Red Socks winning that year and other teams have adapted these theories. Billy’s influence on the game of baseball will live on for years to come. The acting in this film was great but not special. That describes Brad Pitt’s work in this film. He played his character as a straight forwward, common man. Jonah Hill did very well in a dramatic and serious role while the best performance in “Moneyball” goes to Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. As the movie began, I forgot that he was in it and I didn’t recognize him for the first 5 seconds when he appears as the Athletics’ manager. He used his look that was created for his role to his advantage in that he let his physicality do most of the acting. I think I compared this film with “The Social Network” too much for my own good. I knew that Aaron Sorkin, who won an Oscar for his screenplay of that show, co-wrote this movie and so I was expecting a similar story arch. I felt however that the story of “Moneyball” focused too much attention on the difficult first half of the baseball season and not enough on the successful winning streak. The film had too much hopelessness and it was not balanced with opposing feelings of triumph. Other films like “Frost/Nixon” and “Rocky III” have this balance.

I think I would have liked the movie more if Steve Soderbergh had directed. I seem to be unique in my opinion of this show because professional critics love it. I bet that I am just used to a certain kind of sports underdog movie and this film was just different. I was hoping for a more enjoyable experience but having said that, the movie wasn’t bad. It was nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture and I thought it was only going to win Best Adapted Screenplay but it ended up with no Oscar wins. That kind of justifies my review just a little. I am happy for Jonah's Hill's nomination though.

3 Stars