Moneyball

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🎙️ EPISODE 300: 01.24.2021 *Review starts @ ~ 01:03 This is not an original thought, but the fact that this movie exists at all is pretty astonishing. It's journey from nothing to major motion picture is a strange and seemingly well-documented (and most likely very boring) tale that comes down to one simple and odd fact: Brad Pitt must be a pretty big baseball fan. Because this movie doesn't get made without him, he being both its star and its main producer. Everything considered, for a sports fan, that a big budget film based on the 2002 Oakland A's is a real thing still feels pretty weird. The book Moneyball, which used said team to make a bigger point about baseball economics, was published in 2003, and was instantly popular and well-received, but nothing about it screamed COOL MOVIE. I can recall reading bits and pieces on cinema blogs about "Moneyball: The Movie" rumors, and thinking, "weird" and also, "no way is that gonna be good if it ever happens."

But lo and behold, this film is alright. Jonah Hill is not the best supporting actor of 2011 but he's good in his role as the Bill James disciple who is tagged to be the brains behind the rebuilding process in the wake of the A's losing star players such as Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon to contracts they can't afford. The first hour is the most effective, blending effortlessly scenes of Oakland GM Billy Beane's (Pitt) playing days with his modern struggle to succeed with a small budget team in what many feel is an unfair business climate. This is boring shit. And it's no surprise that Aaron Sorkin is responsible for the screenplay which is why this thing works. It reminded me of Sorkin's  The Social Network, in the way that it used fast cuts and short scenes, mixed here with jumbles of stats and highlights as well. An energy is created that diminishes the dullness of watching grown men argue over what baseball stats are the most important.

That being said, Moneyball eventually starts to drag. A scene depicting Pitt and Hill making a late season trade comes across as corny and unrealistic, and–worst of all–bloated and overlong. This movie started to really lose me right before its climax (the A's historic winning streak) but that sequence iteself was well-done and offered some redemption.

Also, secondary character development is (predictably) an issue, for various reasons that occur when you are dealing with real people who are all still alive and well, and not much older than the time you are depicting. Two examples are David Justice, who I saw enough of growing up to know he doesn't really look, talk or act like that (you can't miss all three), and Chad Bradford, whose only line is an odd religious anecdote that has no bearing on the rest of the plot (we get it: there are many different personality types in literally any given workplace, and that is also a thing that the managers have to manage).

I'm nitpicking perhaps, as this is the crux of any recent history "based on a true story" movie with recognizable people as the focus. This is why they are usually the least successful 'type' of biopic, and especially sports movie. The best sports movies oftentimes revolve around fictional characters or lesser-known/unheralded stories–think Rudy or Rocky or Hoosiers. Films where our memories are taken out of play.

There's probably a hundred ways in which this film could have been screwed up, and definitely a hundred excuses for why it shouldn't have been made in the first place. But overall it's fun and enjoyable, and will jog the sports fan's memory of an otherwise unmemorable sports team.

*** part of THE BIG EPISODE 300 EXTRAVAGANZA wherein I reviewed 36 movies, mostly live reads of critiques I wrote between 2009-2012. The finished product above is a highly edited version of the truly embarrassing one that was read during the five-hour podcast recording. I guess this is growing up. ***

THE 36 MOVIES REVIEWED DURING EPISODE 300

30 MINUTES OR LESS • ALEX BAG: UNTITLED FALL '95 • AWAY WE GO • BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD • BEING ELMO • BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM • THE BROTHERS SOLOMON • A BUCKET OF BLOOD •
THE CAMPAIGN • THE CENTER OF THE WORLD • CHRISTMAS ON MARS • THE CHRISTMAS TREE • CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. • (500) DAYS OF SUMMER • A FIELD IN ENGLAND • FUNNY PEOPLE • GET HIM TO THE GREEK • GIGANTIC (A TALE OF TWO JOHNS) • INCEPTION • JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME • LEAVE NO TRACE • MAN ON WIRE • MIDNIGHT IN PARIS • MONEYBALL • MOON • MUTUAL APPRECIATION • POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD • RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES • SLEEPWALK WITH ME • SOME DRINKING IMPLIED • TIM AND ERIC'S BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE • TRANSIT • TO ROME WITH LOVE • THE WICKER MAN • WINTER'S BONE • YOUTH IN REVOLT

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 299 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 300B ⫸

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