Its like sitting in a 2.5 hour business meeting...let the argument begin

Rating: 5/10 (13 January 2012)

Every year there has to be one BIG award winning film that I just shake my head about and wonder what the hell everyone is thinking? Slumdog Millionaire was WAY over hyped, American Beauty, Babel, every George Clooney movie...I could go on. But Moneyball is the exact definition of me shaking my head. I thought Moneyball was downright boring. Yes the performances were solid but the content of the movie, and the scenes were simply boring. The film was about two hours too long and nothing of any significance ever happens. I am just constantly surprised by people's comments on this film and I don't just mean professional critics. IMDb reviewers are saying...Best Film of 2011, "Incredible", Brad Pitt's best role...surely some sort of mass hypnosis has been done because this movie was not even average. It was boring, contrived, with zero climax and had more to do with money than baseball.
Brad Pitt gives a decent performance as Billy Beane. It is an okay role. He does a good job. Without him this film probably would have been a 2/10 or less. But this wouldn't even fit in his top twenty performances and I think he's an outstanding actor. Sorry Mr. Pitt but you shouldn't get a nomination let alone the award for this. Jonah Hill is also decent as Peter Brand. He is the straight man but also the comic relief delivering some funny lines and him and Pitt have a good but awkward chemistry opposite each other. His performance is as good as Pitt's which isn't saying that either of them are outstanding. The very talented Philip Seymour Hoffman is completely underplayed and underused in this film. His whole character amounts to scowling and making angry faces at Pitt. Robin Wright getting top billing in this film is ludicrous as she is pointless and useless and hardly shows up. She has long been reduced to a sub character actor.
This whole review and my entire opinion can be reduced to the film being over-rated quite simply. What about this movie makes it so fantastic? Why is this better than the thousands of other movies released this year? I know that I'm in a minority of people that didn't like it but I think sometimes people get caught up in hype. I saw Moneyball within its first week, if not weekend, so before all the hype started and I was bored to tears. The entire plot is Pitt sitting in an office calling people, bantering back and forth, and nothing ever happens. To call this a baseball film is ridiculous because it has nothing to do with playing baseball. Anyways millions will flock to see it, it will likely be on the top of everyone's awards list but for me, outside of a few decent performances, was a dud all around. 5/10