Film Review: Moneyball

Director: Bennett Miller
The screenplay was adapted from the book of the same name written by Michael Lewis (fantastic author of The Blindside and Liar's Poker). A friend of mine who introduced me to Baseball recommended I read this book and I found it even more fascinating the second time round when I knew more about Baseball. The book more than the film delves into the world of sabremetrics within baseball and how the Oakland Athletics with one of the lowest payrolls in Major League Baseball can challenge the top spenders like the New York Yankees.
The film obviously glosses over a lot of the facts and figures that are within the book as to how they looked at the different stats produced by batters. It does a good job of not overwhelming people who don't necessarily know a lot about baseball, meaning it is more accessible. When I heard they were making a film version I presumed it would be a reasonably small production of little known actors that might not even be screened in Britain except at the more independent cinemas. But in little time it was announced that Brad Pitt would play Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane and Jonah Hill would play the role of Paul DePodesta although he did not like how his character was going to portrayed so they called him Peter Brand and didn't use his likeness. This meant the film began to gather more momentum especially as Philip Seymour Hoffman was then confirmed to play Art Howe the manager who ran the game from down on the bench and frequently clashed with Billy's plans for a game (Billy refused to watch games as he believed it blurred his vision of how the players were really playing).



Brad Pitt as Oakland A's GM Billy Beane

The film has the true underdog feel to it and emphasizes this from the start with the comparison of the A's budget and the Yankees budget from when they faced each other in the playoffs in 2001. Everyone loves an underdog story especially in sports films and that is the angle that is heavily played within the film, to add to the mountain Beane has to climb he loses his three best players before the 2002 season as they move to the big money team in free agency. They have to uncover the next hidden gem that will get on base and score the runs that they will lose without the likes of Giambi.

It's a film that non-baseball fans can enjoy but still offers enough depth for the audience who are familiar with the book, the film slightly underplayed how good Beane was at trading players and improving the team in the second half of the film which is a shame. In the book its shown that some GMs won't deal with him because they believe they'll get fleeced but his other ability of getting involved in trades he has no business being in but benefitting from it. Overall the screenplay is well written and is reasonably faithful to the book and cut out much of the history of Sabremetrics which many would be less interested in. Its also a good behind the scenes look at how baseball teams are run within the league and how the poor fare against the rich, a funny scene involved journeyman David Justice being shocked at having to pay for Pepsi in the changing rooms in Oakland.

Jonah Hill playing the Yale economics graduate who is nervous and shy to begin with but soon gains confidence as he sees his belief in Sabremetrics pay off on the field. A key scene is when Beane tells him that he needs to tell a player that he has been traded and it finally shows that he has the confidence in himself and his belief in how to succeed in baseball. Hill was superb in this role and really deserved his nomination for the Golden Globes and the Oscars which I really hope he wins for Best Supporting Actor. Pitt and Hoffman are also very good in their roles but its Hill that impressed me the most.

3/4 a great underdog story, faithful to the book and with 3 good acting performances.