Moneyball: The Movie

 

Moneyball

OOO

PG-13 (Some strong language, including a few F-bombs)

The previous post I gave my thoughts on the Michael Lewis book Moneyball, and the baseball philosophy behind it.  Last night I did finally catch the big screen adaptation staring Brad Pitt, as Oakland A's GM Billy Bean. It's hard for me not to compare it to the book, but if you haven't read the source material it won't matter. The movie focuses more on the personal side of the story; Bean's own struggles as a hot young prospect who didn't pan out, his relationship with his teenage daughter as well as his battles to remake the Athletics using methods the baseball establishment opposes.  The book was heavy on the theory behind sabermetrics and the work of Bill James, but the film makers throw in just enough jargon to keep fans interested and give non-fans a flavor of what's going on without getting glassy eyed with boredom.  The movie also tones down the preachiness of the book.  I felt like Lewis was trying so desperately to convince us how enlightened moneyball people are and how backwards the rest of baseball is that I turned against it because he sounded so snotty about it.  The movie clearly backs our heroes in their quest to buck the system using new methods without making me feel like I was being recruited for a cult.

Moneyball is slow moving at times, and is probably fifteen or 20 minutes too long, but overall I found it enjoyable. Pitt, playing the emotional Bean works well off of Jonah Hill, who plays a dispassionate Yale economics grad turned assistant GM.  Philip Seymour Hoffman is kind of wasted as manager Art Howe.  Kerris Dorsey is sweet as Bean's daughter, and if that's her real singing voice she has a future beyond acting.  And two of the best performances here are also a couple of the shortest; Brent Jennings as then A's infield coach Ron Washington (today manager of the Texas Rangers) and Arliss Howard as Red Sox owner John Henry.

Whether you are a true believer in sabermetrics, a diehard baseball traditionalist, someone kind of in the middle like me or not a fan at all, I think you'll enjoy Moneyball.