It’s a tradition in sports-related filmmaking to take existing pieces of non-fiction — Friday Night Lights, The Blind Side, Raging Bull, the list goes on — and turn them into grand emotional dramas.
However, it’s hard to imagine the pitch for Moneyball, yet another film based on the work of The Blind Side author Michael Lewis, which focuses on sports team management instead of the players. A less-than riveting drama about the high-cost world of early 2000s baseball trades and statistics? That could be interesting, I guess.
No, Moneyball isn’t a terrible movie — it’s a perfectly fine little film that takes no chances whatsoever. It’s a dry dramedy about real-life Oakland Athletics’ general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life) and the unorthodox, statistically-based tactics he used in the team’s 2002 season to deal with their microscopic budget.
Since very few people outside of Oakland know the first thing about the history of the Athletics, the storyline still manages to retain some sense of narrative suspense, in that most viewers will have no idea any of this even happened. As a non-fiction piece, however, audiences shouldn’t expect a particularly neat and tidy ending.
The best parts of the movie feature Beane and his young cohort Peter Brand (Jonah Hill, Megamind) playing the system, using numbers and a boatload of call-waiting to confuse other general managers and get the players they want. Their relationship is palpable, but Hill gives a relatively uninspiring performance, simply channeling his trademark awkwardness.
The best actor in the movie is the fantastic Philip Seymour Hoffman (Jack Goes Boating), who comes off completely believably as prickly manager Art Howe. He is woefully underused, but it is stunning to watch the film and think that he’s the same guy that won an Oscar for his portrayal of Truman Capote.
The movie suffers in the details, though. It is overlong, breaking the two-hour mark, and the pacing gets a bit wonky with the film’s premature climax (nearly 20 minutes before the end credits). The subplots about Beane’s failed MLB career as a player and his divorce fall flat, effectively brushed under the rug by the main plotline.
Still, Moneyball is an easy film to sit through and enjoyable occasionally. There’s a few good lines, a handful of great scenes and an overall air of positivity about the whole work. It’s a fun little film, but like season tickets to see the Houston Astros, it’s not really worth the price tag.
VERDICT: A fun, easy to watch dramedy, Moneyball‘s managing statistics and economic number crunching still aren’t the most interesting aspects of sports ever committed to film.
berman@umdbk.com
