Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt as Billy Beane

You hear the word "romantic" throughout Moneyball to describe the game of baseball.  And it is the most romantic of all the games, but I would better describe it as poetic.  It is the game that can turn on a dime.  A team is leading 11-0, as the Oakland Athletics (A's) were against Kansas City and Kansas manages to tie the game in 8 innings.  The game turns.  Poetic is what happened in a matter of minutes and poetic is the fans' reactions.  Their faces tell you everything you need to know how the game is going. 

It is also poetic that in 10 years, Billy Beans, the General Manager for the Oakland A's and the man credited with changing how players are traded, has neverwon the World Series.  He has come close, but close is not good enough. 

If you love baseball you will love this movie.  For a movie that lacks action scenes it holds the audience attention to the details and grownup conversations adult men have.  The A's almost won the World Series in 2001 and that "almost" never sit well with Beane, who afterward went on a reboot of the team.  The A's lose their three star players to the Yankees, a team with deep pockets ($120Million payroll), and with only $40Million to work with, that leaves him little to trade.  But he goes after the players no other team wants - the older David Justice and the low performing Scott Hatteberg to name a few.

The fans are upset and in the beginning of the season it seems like a bad move, with the A's losing 14 games straight.  Beane makes more trade changes and basically becomes the shadow manager of the A's, butting heads with Art Howe, the team's manager.

Mention Brad Pitt's name and few people would think of him as a big movie star.  He seems to be more recognized as the partner of Angie, or the social activist, and all around good guy before "movie star."  I have not seen a Brad Pitt movie in so long, I forget he was acting.  I am sure that is by design versus someone like Tom Cruise who is always non-stop making movies, in the news, and papparazzi fodder.Moneyball was for me Pitt's best movie.

Pitt's portrayal of Beane fits so naturally.   Even the smallish roles played by Philip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe and Robin Wright (2 minutes!) as Bean's ex-wife feel natural.

Beane is credited with changing the way owners and manager trade ball players.  As the statistician, Jonah Hill advocates the number of times on base versus the hits.  And it makes sense when one thinks about it.  You want the hits, especially the home runs, but more importantly you want players on base.  They mention Barry Bonds as the player with the most walks, but it got him on base.

If you ever wondered how General Managers think and their reaction to the games won or lost, the stresses and the worries about the next moves, this is the move that best depicts it.  How does a player feel who has been told he is traded, or who was employed and is now sitting out because no one wants him?  It is all here in Moneyball, where players are traded for as little as baseball cards.  

Billy Bean was that young rookie at one time with so much promise and never became the star player (like Alex Rodriguez).  He knew how it felt to sit by the phone for the agent's call.  Moneyball is well written and acted.   By using flashbacks of  Beane's playing days, it shows his humanity and concern for the players; but at the same time his business acrumen.  It takes you inside the business of baseball, the tensions between general manager and team manager.

This was a delightful "sports" movie to watch.

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Feel-good Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing