Today’s quick review: Moneyball. Reeling from a crushing late-season loss, the Oakland Athletics try to rebuild their roster for the coming year. To cope with their shoestring budget, general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) takes a chance on Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a young analyst with revolutionary ideas about the sport. Together they set out to assemble a winning team out of undervalued players using a strategy no one believes will work.
Moneyball is a sports drama based on a true story. Faced with the challenge of competing with teams that have up to three times his budget, Billy Beane turns to statistics to fill the Athletics’ roster, flying in the face of decades of baseball tradition. Moneyball takes this unique subject matter and backs it up with solid acting, writing, and presentation style. However, the nature of the story will make it a dry watch for some viewers.
Moneyball makes for an odd sort of underdog story. The Athletics are clearly outclassed by their rivals, but their secret is not heart but statistics. Seeing Billy and Peter work out their system is interesting enough on its own, and there is some good tension as it’s put to the test during the season. But the movie ends up caught between its cold central conceit—that only the numbers matter—and its need to mean something on an emotional level.
How much you get out of Moneyball will depend on your taste in drama. Those drawn to tales of ingenuity, perseverance, and rational thinking will get everything they want out of the movie, with a couple of good character moments to boot. Those who prefer more romantic stories, where the emotional arc comes first and realism comes second, will find that Moneyball is a strange inversion of the underdog formula that’s not as viscerally satisfying.
For a jazzier attempt to game the system, try 21 or The Wolf of Wall Street. For a baseball drama with a greater focus on the sport, try The Natural. For a baseball comedy with a more conventional underdog story, try Major League.
7.6 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 for solid craftsmanship, unique material, and hit-or-miss emotional payoff.