Moneyball

Moneyball was a film that I always wanted to watch, but for some reason never did. I am so glad that I finally got to watch Moneyball. Moneyball is a thoughtful, well-written and tightly directly film that looks like it is about baseball, but really is not.

Moneyball follows Oakland Athletics General Manager, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) who’s 2001 team lost to the Yankees. Not only did they lose the playoffs. they lost three of their top players because the Yankees could pay more. Beane struggles to find money to rebuild his team. He runs into a Yale economics graduate, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who convinces him that the way that baseball is picking players is all wrong – they are picking players based on how they look, how their swings look and how their girlfriends look. Brand believes that they should be using math and data to pick players (who would have thunk?) and this method would allow the A’s to get wins on less money.

The film has a very wry sense of humor about it and that made the film very watchable, even when there is information being presented. It also helps that both Pitt and Hill turn in excellent performances. One does not need to know much (or even anything) about baseball to enjoy Moneyball. There are a few extended baseball scenes in the film, but knowing how the game is played is not needed to enjoy the scenes.

This movie is less about baseball and more about business and the humans making the game work. The dialogue in the film is sharp.

I really enjoyed Moneyball and recommend it.