Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman team up in "Moneyball," a true story about how statistics can tie into a game of skill and heart, directed by Bennett Miller ("The Cruise," "Capote"). Despite the mountains of baseball and underdog films, "Moneyball" manages to stand above the mediocre due to solid performances and an original premise.
The film opens at the end of the Oakland Athletics' 2001 season with their loss to the New York Yankees in the post-season. General Manager Billy Beane (Pitt) is upset by the loss and struggles to think of a way to make the team competitive despite their significant financial handicap. On a visit to the Cleveland Indians, Beane meets Peter Brand (Hill), a young Yale Economics graduate with radical ideas about how to assess players' value. Beane tests Brand's theory by asking whether he would have drafted him, Beane having been a Major League player before becoming general manager. Though scouts considered Beane a phenomenal player, his career in the Major Leagues was disappointing. Sensing opportunity, Beane hires Brand as the Athletics' assistant general manager.
With good reason, the raw story is what propels the film. Every baseball scene is greatly handled, well-acted, and has an excellent use of stock footage from the very season the film is based off of. The stock footage absorbs us more and makes us feel how genuine and realistic Beane's story really is. However, as with many inspirational tales there is a large element of family present. Beane is divorced with a lone tween daughter and serves as a conduit for Pitt to show an emotional caring side to Beane. Save one scene, each family scene feels tacked on. There is no real impeding conflict between Beane and his family, and all it really does is distract us from the baseball. A particular scene that struck me as unnecessary was the introduction to the father-in-law character. We initially have a little bit of tension, but after the one scene we see him he is gone forever.
There is an interesting lack of character development throughout the team itself. A large job of a general manager is releasing and trading players, and this job is made extremely clear. The film saves us from making a connection with a particular player by him getting released from the team. We still feel the melancholy from the player, but we do not necessarily feel for the player. Baseball is a business, and it is only the viewers who see it as a game. With this philosophy, you get an outstanding amount of depth in this film. Are statistics truly applicable to a sport? If they are, can they actually measure one's ability, or is recruitment best left to scouts? Such questions establish "Moneyball" above the majority, and we do not get a typical sports film. How wide the audience can be is supported by this: I am not a particular fan of sport films yet my roommate is, and we both found plenty to enjoy in "Moneyball."
Melancholy is a large theme in "Moneyball," but should hardly be seen. The original story bolstered by good performances and actual depth yield a sports film that anyone can enjoy. If the bat is swung right, this film may even earn some nominations.
