A nice character study with a great performance.

Rating: 6/10 (16 December 2011)

Moneyball isn't a baseball movie. Hell, it's not even about baseball. The sport sets itself as the backdrop for a character study about the man behind the curtain; Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's circa 2001. For a film that is so grounded in the American pastime, it's interesting to note that there is only one game that is displayed prominently in the entire film, nearing the end of it's runtime. Moneyball isn't a sports movie, it's about this one man and his road to redemption, bringing us through themes of change and courage and led by a superb performance from Brad Pitt.
The film, as written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin and directed by Bennett Miller, doesn't lend itself to any of those big Oscar moments you'd expect, but instead finds beauty in restraining itself. Pitt is the perfect actor for their representation of Beane, a combination of charm, humor and bitter resentment towards a system that chewed him up and spit him out as a young man. There's so much going on inside this man and Pitt carries it with the right amount of brooding gravitas, charming charisma and graceful perseverance. He's a delight to watch and he carries a film that could have easily fallen apart without him.
Overall the film was an enjoyable, easy watch that never got a chance to truly shine for me, which I attribute mainly to Bennett Miller's direction. He understands what makes this different from a sports movie but he doesn't give it enough of a spark to make it stand out at all. I wish there had been more of Sorkin's usual sharp dialogue but we got was enjoyable, I just wish they had chosen a director who wasn't so vanilla. It would have been very interesting if Soderbergh had stayed on. There are a few small details that really tore me out of the moment (a brief cameo, the concept that Beane's daughter writes a song that was a pretty popular hit eight years after the movie takes place) but the thing that I think holds it back from getting anywhere sensational is Miller.
Still, that doesn't mean the film is bad at all. In fact, I was surprised by just how good I found it to be. With Pitt taking the lead and a fine supporting cast to back him up (Philip Seymour Hoffman was the only one that I took much notice of, but no one turns in a bad performance), Moneyball is a vintage character piece with a lot of heart. It took about half it's running time before it really picked up steam, but it never managed to bore me or make me check the clock. It's not a tremendous film by any means, but I think it's definitely a pretty good one.