Moneyball

How do you make a movie about statistics? Without being a documentary or School House Rock, how do you tell the story of what it means to use numbers to build a baseball team? You hire Brad Pitt.

I like baseball movies, but the truth is that the film has rather little to do with the sport and has been streamlined to tell the story of sticking with something (or someone) in which you fervently believe. The willingness to risk one’s reputation for the sake of possible progress is at the fore here, in an enjoyable albeit unbalanced film. Moneyball received six Academy Award nominations, and won none of them. The nominations came as quite the surprise - a win would have been a miracle.

Brad Pitt is well-liked, widely known, and highly respected in Hollywood, as his character is in the world of baseball. It’s not exactly a stretch. The few scenes he has with his onscreen daughter are used to humanize the character, make him vulnerable and relatable - because the rest of his time onscreen is spent in stares of pent-up frustration and deep thought. We have to have backstory and family time to maintain interest in the character, to invest in his ideals for baseball. And I’m not sure what Jonah Hill did to earn a Best Supporting Actor nod - was the Academy really so surprised that he’s capable of more than Get Him to the Greek?

Regardless, there’s a much more interesting story in Moneyball; behind the dugout, in the locker room, and in the manager’s office. In the practices we don’t see. I could care less about the growth of this ragtag team - what’s fascinating is the conflict generated by a business manager who knows the game, a coach who has no idea what’s going on in his clubhouse, and a young man plucked from his cubicle and thrown into the fray. It’s touched on, alluded to, and hinted at, but with so much soapboxing about taking chances, pursuing what you believe in, and the importance of family, what we come away with is the overwrought sentimentality of an after-school special. Couple that feeling with Pitt’s gym scenes - I feel dirty.

One can only suppose that the studios were looking for another Blind Side: a moving sports film that would appeal to men, women, families, and the Academy. Instead, Moneyball is a bit wide of the mark. But maybe all they wanted was to get on base.