Written by Gary Sernaker, Reporter
Based on the terrific book written by Michael Lewis, Moneyball explains how a new breed of computer literate baseball fans were able to dispel many of the axioms held to be sacrosanct by the Team owners, coaches, and most importantly the scouts. It not only shreds those ideals, but it is also able to cause a fundamental re-evaluation of what actually determines the financial worth of a Baseball player. This made for very interesting reading, but its pretty hard to make a movie about statistics. Even the movie Kinsey was pretty boring, and that had alot of sex in it. Well, okay, this movie is pretty sexy, and not just because it stars Angelina Jolie’s husband Brad Pitt as Billy Bean (the real life hero and giant killer). Pitt portrays the General Manager of the Oakland A’s, and he takes the opportunity to project the perfect balance of optimistic pessimism.
Together with Jonah Hill (The Invention of Lying, Get Him to the Greek), we get to see the way he eventually acquires rejects for peanuts who begin to win games; a lot of games. His oxford educated assistant manager, plucked from the Cleveland Indians, brilliantly and patiently explains how his geek numbers prove why the traditional Yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. The book was about disclosing the art of winning an unfair game. The A’s compete against teams with much larger payrolls, whose managers always hired only the top-rated players. The N.Y. Yankees have a payroll over three times larger than the Oakland A’s. Moneyball gives some insight into baseball and how Billy Bean transformed his team, just after relinquishing his three most prominent players before the 2002 season opens. He’s written off by just about everyone, including the owner of his own team. We get to ride along as Mr.Pitt comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins, and the baseball establishment itself. Brad Pitt is able to convey an inner peace and outward savvy that allows him to portray Billy Bean as someone who is not only believable, but extremely likeable, as well. He’s not only a guy willing to challenge the conventional wisdom of those ‘baseball geniuses’ around him, but also has time to be a pretty good Divorced-Dad. The scenes with Kerris Dorsey (Sons of Anarchy), who portrays his daughter, are very touching. Especially when you can see the pain in his eyes, as a divorced father, having to say goodbye when their scheduled visits are over.
Although some of the most exciting scenes from the book were omitted, especially the chapter where Billy does score a trading homerun, the movie extracts the essence of what the A’s actually achieved during one magical and very improbable baseball season. Moneyball answers the question, ‘how will one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games?’ This movie provides a rollercoaster ride of a season that is more improbable than any other fictional baseball movie. Pitt is a modern-day-real-life Roy Hobbs, who uses a computer instead of a bat to obtain the underdog players that no one wants, to obtain what baseball is all about – scoring runs. This movie portrays what we all really want to see: the good guys winning, for once, and it is one helluva lot of fun to watch.
ComicsOnline gives Moneyball 5 out of 5 home runs!
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