Nowhere near a great sports film.

Rating: 6/10 (2 December 2014)

'MILLION DOLLAR ARM': Three Stars (Out of Five)
Disney sports flick, based on a true story, about how two professional baseball pitchers, from India, were discovered by a determined sports agent; through a reality show competition. It stars Jon Hamm as the sports agent and Madhur Mittal and Suraj Sharma (of 'LIFE OF PI' fame) as the pitchers. It costars Aasif Mandvi, Pitobash Tripathy, Lake Bell, Bill Paxton and Alan Arkin. It was written by Tom McCarthy (who's written and directed such critically acclaimed hits as 'THE STATION AGENT' and 'THE VISITOR') and directed by Craig Gillespie (who also directed the outstanding 'LARS AND THE REAL GIRL', in 2007). The film is undeniably inspiring, as the subject matter practically guarantees it would be, but it's also extremely clichéd and unoriginal.
The story is set in 2008 when sports agent J.B. Bernstein (Hamm) was desperate to find new talent, at a cost he could afford, due to his competitors having a lot more money. One night, while watching 'AMERICAN IDOL' and cricket on TV, he came up with the idea of finding cricket players in India to bring home to America and train to be professional baseball players. Bernstein then developed a reality show challenge, in India, where Rinku Singh (Sharma) and Dinesh Patel (Mittal) emerged the winners; even though they didn't play cricket. He then brought them home to Los Angeles, where he had less than a year to get them ready for a major league try-out. Cultural differences and overwhelming pressure made this challenge nearly impossible for the two young men to overcome.
The movie has a lot of heart, and is pretty emotional at times, but it's still nowhere near a great sports film. It's filled with overused stereotypes and has absolutely no signs of originality. The performances are good and the directing and story are decent but I expect a lot more from McCarthy and Gillespie (as well as the material they had to work with). They've done much more memorable work and they should be able to make a more passionate sports drama flick together. Like I said the heart of the movie is in the right place but the craftsmanship, of the filmmakers involved, is not.
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