Review of Moneyball (2011) by Robinsnest — 16 Jan 2012

Let's get the obvious out of the way. Too long. Mr Hill was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Globes). He cracks one joke, has 2 facial expressions, and tosses Mr Pitt the ball; compared to Mr Plummer? It was not a bad performance but not one worthy of an award.

The story is of course interesting; how Mr Beane defied the way of doing things and brought technology to baseball. But watching "the streak" was like watching a Twilight Zone episode or "The Natural", I knew something great was going to happen but in the end it would not be enough.

The ultimate goal of every ball team is to win the championship, and of course they didn't. Mr Pitt is confusing in the role. I have no idea why he wears a weeding ring, no idea why his adult family situation, which is only hinted at, is brought up.

Inspiration from his daughter? But it was a very small part and superfluous at the end. Perhaps it was to get a screen appearance for Ms Wright, who appears to be out to do a cameo in every movie possible.

So just some flashbacks on Mr Beane but no detail. The entire movie is in as few words as possible telling everyone they're doing it his way. Some good scenes while he is doing some trades, some good dialogue with Mr Hill, but overall an average performance in an average movie.

If it was not "based" on a true story, it would not have been made. And with the usual disclaimer (some "stuff" was made up) who knows if it actually went down like that. It's almost worth seeing (C+).