In the world of sports there’re few greater feelings than a winning streak. It’s a rare occurrence, particularly in a meticulous game like baseball. But what the Oakland Athletics accomplished in 2002, coming up victorious in 20 straight games, was beyond any fundamental or statistical strategy. The stars aligned and the team found what I like to call the zone. A place where idiosyncrasies are non-existent and faults diminished. It’s a mixture of luck, talent, and absolute focus on the subject at hand. When the pieces do finally come into place though, it’s a beautiful sight.

Adapted from Michael Lewis’ “The Art of Winning An Unfair Game,” Moneyball follows the true story of A’s general manger Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and fresh out of Yale graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), as the two attempt to create a team on a small budget using computer-generated analysis. This sort of style of managing baseball is considered a fallacy in the game, as it breaks every theory and method baseball was founded on.

This radical theory Beane and Brand are testing says that all you need is runs and men on base to be a winning ball club. On one hand, that method is clearly flawed. For starters, it neglects pitching and fielding entirely, while simultaneously not taking into account injuries and other occurrences that happen within the game of baseball. However, it proves to be successful on the offensive side of the field, knocking in batters and sticking to the analytics of the game.

What makes Moneyball such an enjoyable experience is that all of it is true. The A’s really did test the water with radical ideas in 2002 – and they were, at the time, hazed and criticized for it.

The film portrays real players and coaches with some bittersweet authenticity. Pitt gives an honest portrayal of a man containing inner conflicts – in both the past and the present. He ponders about his former middling baseball career and how it all started with a choice between the Majors or a full ride to Stanford. Beyond the past, Beane has to confront the realties of possibly losing his job and receiving plenty of ridicule from fans (and critics) for his unnatural methods as General Manger.

Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill star in the intense "Moneyball"

Hill also shines here as an intelligent and modest kid who brings this groundbreaking theory to Beane. Phillip Seymour Hoffman (as A’s coach Art Howe) and Robin Wright (former wife of Billy) deliver some quality performances as well.

Moneyball, like every sports team, has its highs and lows. The pacing is all over the place (particularly in the films remarkably slow opening 35 minutes) – the transitions from the scene to scene consistently come off as oddly juxtaposed – and the script often purposely (for dramatic effect) disregards factual information of the 2002 Oakland A’s. Just to point one, perfunctory mistake (if you know your baseball): the film never acknowledges that the A’s had three All-Star pitchers in 2002: Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson. The Big Three — the glue of this ball club — are completely neglected.

It’s no surprise Moneyball was written by the brilliant Aaron Sorkin: this is a fresh, shrewd, and engaging look at the game of baseball, completed with biting wit. The film works best, though, as a character study of a man who relives the horrors of his failed baseball career each day, while still striving to change the game he once loved.

Moneyball is an intelligent and endearing little film, one that should work for all audiences — even those who confuse baseball and cricket as being the same game.

Rating:

Moneyball (2011)

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Director: Bennett Miller

Writer: Michael Lewis, Stan Chervin

Runtime: 133 minutes

Genre: sport, drama, biography

Trailer Moneyball

by CinemaRx