Sunday, September 25, 2011

Moneyball: A Homerun

"How can you not be romantic about baseball?" asks Oakland A's General Manager Bill Beane (Brad Pitt) near the end of this fascinating baseball bio-pic.
A good question, especially since much of this flick is doing just that.
"Moneyball" takes us back to 2002, when a shallow-pockets Beane is assembling a team to compete with the Daddy Warbucks of baseball, the New York Yankees.
Enter Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), an ivy league geek with a passion for the national pastime. Brand devises a new method of selecting players based on math and computer magic. A desperate Beane signs on. Now we're ready to play ball.
Much of "Moneyball" takes place around conference tables not out on the ballfields. It could have been a strike out, but the film is also a character study of the general manager, once a ball player himself. His story, and the way it's brought to life by Pitt, make "Moneyball" a must see for anyone who loves the game. And that includes the Movie Slut.

No comments: