Moneyball

Sports films, be they documentary or not, can have a tough time at the box office due to their subject matter. The trick is, much like the recent Senna, to make the film in such a manner that it appeals to a wider audience than would normally be the case. For Moneyball (a semi fictionalised account of the bestselling baseball novel by Michael Lewis) Columbia Pictures have done it by casting Brad Pitt in the lead. The trick being that if you’re not a baseball fan you’ll go and see it anyway due to Mr Jolie’s presence. A no-brainer decision perhaps, but I still think that this film will be enjoyed more by people who are fans of the diamond game regardless of Pitt’s presence. In the film Pitt portrays Billy Beane, the real life General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, who has the tricky task of making the team competitive on a meagre budget. With the help of assistant Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) they decide on a route of analysing a players statistics (rather than their perceived worth), making smart purchases and waiting for the results to come. Though it didn’t work in the long run, it did lead to the A’s setting a 20 game American league winning record in the 2002 season. Bennett Miller is the director here and though it’s been 6 years since his lauded (though somewhat too much IMHO) Capote there’s little sign of rustiness. Miller eases through the story, utilising the less is more approach to convey Beane’s mood. Why send waste five minutes of screen time with chatter when you can tell all with a lingering shot of a corridor or a chair flying through the air? When the talk does happen though it’s highly entertaining, with Miller being assisted by the excellent screenplay from überscripters Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. With solid source material to work from they both already had a head start, but this is a sharp script which tries to cater to both fans and non-fans alike. On a side note it does make you wonder what original director Steven Soderbergh found wrong with it (he was given the boot over his approach to the material and changes to the script). Though this is mainly a drama, it’s also very funny, especially in the scenes where Beane is wheeling and dealing players on the telephone. Completely unrealistic it may be, but it’s highly entertaining. Pitt, playing it laid back, is good to watch and Hill again shows there’s more to his repertoire than just knob jokes. On the downside the talk of RBI’s and ERA may go over the heads of non-baseball followers and a cameo by Spike Jonze looks a bit out of place. Overall though this is a film that proves that if the screenplay is there to begin with everything else should just fall in place with ease.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Not the World Series, but plenty of MVP numbers here. Rating: 8/10.