A Good Baseball Story

Rating: 6/10 (17 January 2013)

I've always been partial to a good baseball movie and this one certainly fits that category. Essentially, this story is about a small-market team (the Oakland Athletics) which cannot compete with teams like the New York Yankees who are willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the best players around. Recognizing this the general manager, "Billy Beane" (Brad Pitt) hires an unknown adviser named "Peter Brand" (Jonah Hill) from the Cleveland Indians who specializes on finding undervalued talent. Against severe criticism from his scouts and coaching staff they deliberately bypass well known players in search of inexpensive athletes who have been largely overlooked in the process. At any rate, rather than give the story away I will just say that this film does a fine job in showcasing the risk that Billy Beane took to stay competitive. I thought both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill did excellent jobs in their respective roles. However, I would have liked to have seen more baseball and less of the personal drama in Billy Beane's life as it took away from the overall feel of the movie. But in any case this was a good movie that should appeal to those who like a good baseball story.