Field Of Schemes

Rating: 5/10 (12 April 2014)

How did they ever make a movie of "Moneyball?" The famous Michael Lewis book is not a human-interest story so much as a sabermetric-centered theoretical treatise on how a small-market baseball club found a way to win by blowing up the game.
The answer: Throw us a big star, a couple of name screenwriters, and not much in the way of a working plot.
As the 2002 Major League season begins, the Oakland Athletics find themselves "gutted" of their best players. They can't afford any big free agents, so general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) takes a fresh approach that challenges conventional wisdom.
"If we play like the Yankees in here, we will lose to the Yankees out there," Beane tells his skeptical brain trust of codgers and malcontents.
Having read "Moneyball," and enjoyed it, I see how scripters Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, and director Bennett Miller, tried to make a movie of it: By ramping up conflict wherever they could find or invent it, and pushing sentiment in a occasionally effective but often manipulative way that put me in mind of "Field Of Dreams" or "Terms Of Endearment." Bad guys are clearly defined as people who don't see things Beane's way, while much of the emotional ballast is carried in Gunga Din fashion by little Kerris Dorsey, who plays Beane's daughter Casey, and if there is justice in life if not baseball, will find better films in a long and happy future.
I really like Pitt in this movie, too. He wears his signature cool with quiet authority, earning your interest in his deft handling of whip-smart lines and supporting players. He and Jonah Hill as a Yale graduate Beane takes on as his deputy do a lot to make otherwise clunky exposition scenes work.
The film also scores with the few scenes it shows of the various players, "misfit toys" as Hill's character dubs them, who find themselves hired by the A's because of their undervalued ability to get on base and avoid making outs. Stephen Bishop plays aging hotshot David Justice with appropriate swagger, while Chris Pratt brings likability and humor to the character of struggling first baseman Scott Hatteberg.
There's a lot of fine talent in front of and behind the camera. They just aren't always put to good use. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays A's manager Art Howe with such a put-upon mien that I was surprised to learn the actor lobbied for the part. The point of Howe is that he sees Beane as the enemy, and acts accordingly, but given Hoffman's talent, it's a shame to see him so ill-used in his handful of scenes. I get that Howe didn't see things Beane's way, but could the script given Howe more to do, or say, rather than just look discomfited?
The most ridiculous scene in this regard shows Beane firing his head scout Grady (Ken Medlock) after a nasty confrontation. Medlock plays the role so nasty it's no wonder the guy's always decked out in black when we see him.
The film also lacks for a satisfying close. The A's did well in 2002, but didn't make it to the World Series, so much of the story centers on a winning streak. Here, the makers push all the buttons but, as Beane makes clear, the end result is meaningless in terms of what he wants to do. So we get a second, strained ending involving Beane's talent being recognized by a rival club. Here as elsewhere we get a lot of close-ups of Pitt, but little idea what makes him tick beyond flashbacks to his unhappy playing days which are the film's weakest moments.
I guess if you follow baseball at all, you already know how this ends. I did, but I don't think that affected my reason for not caring. "Moneyball" has its moments, but it doesn't really justify its existence by offering satisfying drama or interesting characters. It just puts quality actors through the motions, and left me a bit empty.