I've often been amazed at the salaries of professional athletes. I mean it's great that they have the abilities that they do and can perform unlike anyone else out there. But to be paid millions of dollars to basically play a game? I'm more concerned that the guy cleaning out the septic tank gets paid better than an athlete. Which one would you rather depend on?
This brings us to the new release MONEYBALL. Brad Pitt stars in this real life story of Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics in 2001. The A's have just lost their three best players to teams that could afford to pay them higher salaries. The home office just doesn't have the money to compete with bigger cities that offer bigger paychecks. So how can a team that spends close to $30 million compete with a team that costs $130 million?
Billy finds the answer by sheer chance. While discussing possible trades in Cleveland he watches as the head men keep deferring to a fresh looking young guy named Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). Cornering him later on Brand explains to him that teams far too often look for players rather than points. They seek out and pay stars for their attraction quotient but never look to see if they can justify their salaries with their abilities. Brand believes that a great team could be made of semi-decent players, but players who score runs.
Beane embraces the idea much to the consternation of the talent scouts and the team's coach Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). He bypasses their recommendations and instead puts together a team based on stats that Peter puts together for him. In so doing he believes the team may have no major stars but they will have a winning season. Too bad everyone attempts to stop him rather than go along.
Beane and Howe butt heads as to who will play where and when. Eventually Beane puts Howe into a position where he has no option but to place the players he wants where he wants them. That's when the team suddenly begins to win and win big going so far as to break previous records of consistent wins.
Based on the book of the same name, MONEYBALL is an interesting film about a subject that along with apple pie is near and dear to the hearts of most American's, baseball. We romanticize about the players; we celebrate the victories and losses of our favorite teams. But how many people actually consider what it takes to put together a winning team? That is the main subject behind this film.
But it's more than discussing the choice of winning versus the romantic notion of pure athleticism that makes us love the game. The movie is about a man pushed into a corner who needs to find a way to bring home a winning team without being able to spend the money that bigger cities can afford and who more or less succeeds in doing so. After Beane went on to create this format other teams followed with more success.
Brad Pitt is an actor that could easily fall back on his good looks and make movies that offer little depth but plenty of eye candy for the ladies. Instead he takes risks now and then with movies that show he is a better actor than many would give him credit for. The subtle style he offers here as Beane makes you believe you are watching the man instead of an actor portraying him and that's the sign of an actor worth watching.
Hill steps out of the comic foil he's played in nearly every movie he's ever made. Instead he's the straight man here, the character (based on several real life individuals) that comes up with the plan that just might save the A's. He never gives this performance the same old styling that he's used before, instead making this character as believable as Pitt's Beane.
You don't have to be a baseball fanatic to enjoy this movie but it wouldn't hurt. More action takes place off the field than on. In any event what you will end up with is an evening's entertainment that is worth the effort to take the movie home. Not only will you want to consider renting this one, it might actually be worth adding to your collection. I know I'll be watching it more than once.
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