Moneyball tells the story of the Oakland Athletics’ manager, Billy Beane's, attempts to revive the fortunes of his struggling team by using statistics to draft new players.
The story of how Moneyball got to the big screen is as dramatic as any sports movie. A stubborn star (producer Brad Pitt) unwilling to be deterred by people leaving the project (Steven Soderbergh was once attached to direct), controversy (director of photography Adam Kimmel was arrested and subsequently fired) or outside interference from those in charge. Pitt knew what he had, and in his portrayal of Billy Beane, he has a performance that is sure to be noticed by the academy next February.
Moneyball performs the difficult task of being a sports movie that you don’t need to like sports to enjoy. The best sports movies realise that it’s the emotion, the natural drama and tension that comes from personal struggles within the game that keeps people hooked, a point not lost on director Bennett Miller (Capote). Despite a running time of 133 minutes, the film only has about 10 minutes of actual baseball, with the rest of the story played out behind the scenes in the board rooms and hallways where the real drama unfolds. Beane, told that he has no more money to spend on his team, realises that it’s a case of adapt or die. An abrupt meeting with the manager of a rival team introduces him to Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), an economics graduate ostracized by his peers for concentrating on statistics over skill. Beane and Brand’s detached player selection directly at odds with his scouts methods and experience. The thought of piecing together a top flight team on a shoestring budget has particular resonance in today’s climate, and there’s a real sense of the haves versus the have-nots as bigger teams swoop in for any player that shows promise, a scenario that Beane expertly twists to his own needs in one of the films best scenes. In Beane, Pitt has found a role ideal for his talents, a stubborn, charming, likeable character, it’s possible to see other actors in the role, but impossible to see anyone do it nearly as well. In Jonah Hill he has the perfect foil, maintaining all of the awkwardness from his previous roles, but giving his character a subtle determination to prove that he is right.
With the majority of fans and many in the league waiting (and hoping) for Beane to fail, it’s an anxious wait to see if he will eventually be proven right. As we see from his own time as a player, things don’t always work out like they should, even when everything goes your way. We’re treated to glimpses of his playing career, flashbacks of times he’d rather forget, and experiences that have made him become an unconventional manager, who doesn’t give rousing speeches at half time, or even watch his own team play. Like the best sports movies, he’s a man looking to win, to beat the odds, for redemption. Coming first isn’t enough, he wants to change how the game is played, and as his team starts to win, you’ll be rooting for him all the way.
