Moneyball

Moneyball is one of those sports movies that I looked forward to seeing from the moment I saw the first trailer. While Miracle is the first based on a true story sports movie that I actually knew of the story before seeing the movie, but the overall story for Moneyball I actually knew more of the details going in. Being drawn to seeing sports movies, and they are typically ones that I love in the end, because of the competitive nature exemplified in these movies and this competitive nature is something I have always had myself. Unfortunately, I never got around to seeing this movie in the theaters and when I finally saw Moneyball I was very surprised at how while it is a sports movie, the sports aspect is a secondary component to the real story of the movie being Billy Beane's relationships as he turns player evaluations on its head.

Brad Pitt in the role of Billy Beane, is amazingly perfect for him and I think this is the best role I have ever seen him in. Any other year and I think Pitt would have walked away with the Best Actor Oscar, but this year was a tough competition year and a baseball movie is not as artsy so Pitt's performance is not seen as strong and perfect as others were viewed. Pitt brings a great humanity that he has struggles that everyone can relate to, so the audience wants his huge risk he takes to work for him in the end so that our own faith in overcoming our struggles can end up turning out for the better. Jonah Hill in the role of Peter Brand was completely shocking in the performance he gave. Everything I had seen Hill in before this had been comedy roles and while I find him to be completely hilarious, he was able to show he is more then just a comedian and that he can take on serious roles and actually be successful in those roles. Hill has not only the look, but the mannerisms and he acts the exact way I would expect an economics major to be in his first real job. Philip Seymour Hoffman in the role of Art Howe the A;s manager while a small role, really commands the scenes he is in. As the manager as he conflicts with Billy Beane we want to hate him and for him to trust in what Beane is trying to do because if the manager is not putting the players that Beane has brought in with his drastically different method and the team is losing, Beane is taking the heat even though his concept is not actually on the field. Hoffman has great heated interactions with Pitt that really make for a lot memorable moments.

The chemistry between Pitt and Hill is superb and it is there interactions that help not only the audience like their characters, but it is what makes the movie work and be successful. They work so well together that they end up truly learning from each other. Where Beane in his past has avoided the relationships with the players, he begins to eventually connect because not knowing the players does not make the decisions easier in the end. The relationship between Beane and Brand is truly one where they make up for each others weaknesses. With the story focusing on Beane's life and everything surrounding him it ends up working so great. Plus in professional sports it is truly a great thing when money does not end up being the end all be all. With when the story actually takes place it was truly cool for me to think that I actually got to see the first ever attempted new was to compete with the teams that have huge payrolls  as I saw the A's in spring training in 2002. As everything is happening Pitt has sucked everyone in that we feel every high and low he is goring through. With the baseball aspect being subsidiary I found that the scenes of baseball were used to help with the pacing, they ended up helping to move the story along.

Moneyball is a movie that while it was not as much of a sports movie as I was expecting, it still ended up being a pretty great movie. I was really surprised at how great of a job Jonah Hill did in a serious role and how well he worked onscreen with Pitt. With the story being mostly all about the relationships Beane has with the various characters, Moneyball is one of the best sports genre movies I have seen in years. I am giving Moneyball three and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. Moneyball is a movie that is well worth renting , and it is definitely a movie that will be added to the movie collection in the near future.

-The Movie Man