Moneyball
Based on a True Story
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) challenges the system and defies conventional wisdom when his is forced to rebuild his small-market team on a limited budget. Despite opposition from the old guard, the media, fans and their own field manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Beane - with the help of a young, number-crunching, Yale-educated economist (Jonah Hill) - develops a roster of misfits... and along the way, forever changes the way the game is played.
Member Reviews
The Business of Sport or The Sport of Business? - Quindog
Truly an interesting story, and you needn't be a baseball fan to enjoy it. It's as much, if not more, a business story than a sports story.
Good acting all around, but I thought Hill and Hoffman stole Brad's thunder.
They use game situations to build a little suspense, but not so much as to make it a baseball movie. Surprised how fast the 2 hrs and 15 mins flew by.
Not sold on all the Oscar buzz over this film; I didn't think it was that caliber. But it was a good watch and easily recommend it. 3.5 stars.Watch it even if you never played the game. - Superdave
Non-baseball people will still enjoy this movie, since its dramatic elements are universal: an underdog takes on the established rich and the comfortably smug and beats them by changing the rules of the game.
Baseball was fertile terrain for this, since sport even at the highest professional level is notoriously anti-intellectual and conservative. This is made clear early in the film: baseball men would rather fail than face ridicule from their peers by eschewing common practice. Scouts and front office personnel are shown making decisions on team makeup in the ad hoc, seat of the pants fashion that disappeared in most other enterprises with the coming of the information age.
The story: after losing key players to richer organizations at the end of 2002, Oakland GM Billy Beane faced the same pressure to succeed as them but with less resources. He needed a cheaper product. His response quietly revolutionized baseball by challenging conventional wisdom about player evaluation and showing it up. The fact that the 'moneyball' approach is now almost universal in pro baseball gives the film's subject the weight of historic interest, but even if the experiment had failed the mission itself was heroic and historic.
Brad Pitt, creates a full bodied performance as Beane, a man who risks his career and reputation to implement his quiet revolution, while dealing with the fact of a failed playing career and a failed marriage with as much dignity and practicality as necessary, and without turning his experiment into a quixotic quest. Beane's passion for the game drives him forward without blinding him to the fact that he is running an experiment that might fail. He weathers a storm of opposition from others around baseball, from a skeptical and misinformed media and even within the ranks of even his own team.
Jonah Hill successfully underplays a bright baseball outsider on the fringes whose insights into the game career baseball men won't admit.The business of baseball - TheGame
"Moneyball" is based on true events, and provides valuable insight regarding the on-field and off-field dynamics of the Oakland A's Major League Baseball Club.
This film has the capacity to engage viewers who are familiar or unfamiliar with the sport, based on the avant-garde approach to managing resources that is utilised by Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), which any person in business can appreciate.
The narrative is also inspiring, as the viewer is presented with what seems like impossible circumstances for the A's to be successful, yet through innovative thinking high performance is achieved.
Brad Pitt provides a solid performance, as does the entire cast, and the viewer is entertained with plenty of humour and quality drama.
This movie is a win for baseball, as it has the capacity to introduce new people to the game from all over the world.
Member Reviews
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The Business of Sport or The Sport of Business? - Quindog
Truly an interesting story, and you needn't be a baseball fan to enjoy it. It's as much, if not more, a business story than a sports story.
Good acting all around, but I thought Hill and Hoffman stole Brad's thunder.
They use game situations ...Watch it even if you never played the game. - Superdave
Non-baseball people will still enjoy this movie, since its dramatic elements are universal: an underdog takes on the established rich and the comfortably smug and beats them by changing the rules of the game.
Baseball was fertile terrain for this, ...The business of baseball - TheGame
"Moneyball" is based on true events, and provides valuable insight regarding the on-field and off-field dynamics of the Oakland A's Major League Baseball Club.
This film has the capacity to engage viewers who are familiar or unfamiliar with the sport, ...