Review of Moneyball (2011) by Stuart K — 30 Dec 2012

Based on Michael Lewis's 2003 book, adapted by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, this true-life sports drama was nearly done 2 years before by Steven Soderbergh, then production was cancelled, it was restarted a year later with Bennett Miller (Capote (2005)) directing.

It avoids falling into all the conventional cliches a sports movie has, and it has a different way of doing it. But it's well made film, it's not about baseball, at it's heart is a buddy movie.

In 2001, the Oakland Athletics has just lost a league game against the New York Yankees, and Oakland's manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) has just lost some of his star players, and he has a very limited budget to get new players.

While on a scouting trip to visit the Cleveland Indians, Beane meets young economics graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), who claims to have a way of scouting for good talent, using mathematics and computer technology.

Beane's team scouts, including manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are dubious and speak out against this, but Beane and Brand are determined that it'll work. It's a film about trying to succeed against the odds, and it's well made with a good script with good dialogue, tinged with a slight funny wit about it.

Pitt is as great as ever while Hill is a revelation, beautifully underplaying his part, and showing he's maturing into a great actor.