The Games People Play

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2011)

This film is recommended.
I have never been a baseball fan. The game bores me completely and I always found it to be a money-grubbing sport, even though it's still considered America's favorite past-time. The 1994 -95 Major League Baseball strike put the final kibosh on the sport for me. So I went to see the critically lauded sports film Moneyball with some bias and trepidation. Though it did not reinforce my love of the game, it did prove my initial response to be wholly accurate. And the film scores big-time, even though the subject matter still bored me sporadically.
They say money can't buy you happiness, but it sure as hell can buy you a winning team. Or so Billy Beane ( Brad Pitt ), manager of one of the lowest paying team, the Oakland Athletics, believes, as he finds himself battling the odds with his players against those damn Yankees and other pro teams.
Billy builds a strong winning team only to have his best players hired out from under him. Enter the nerd, Peter Brand ( Jonah Hill ), baseball statistician and Yale graduate, with a plan for the Oakland A's and Billy to succeed. But it's the team manager, a gruff and unbelieving Art Howe ( Phillip Seymour Hoffman ) that doesn't hold kindly to the Ivy Leaguer and his aggravating boss interfering in the Major League business of baseball championships.
The dry subject of statistical analysis of baseball players and their point averages may weigh heavily with your enjoyment of this film, but Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin take this nominal and unexciting premise and run with it with their literate and expertly written screenplay. Although they may not totally succeed in their exposition and narrative clarity of the numerical plan that Beane and Brand hatch, they wisely give much screen time to Billy and his witty banter with Peter, plus show his paternal side with his loving daughter ( a charismatic Kerris Dorsey ) to full effect.
Director Bennett Miller's use of baseball montages and statical numbers as graphic images delivers a nice visual look to the film. The director also assembles a crackerjack A-team of players. Leading the cast is Brad Pitt who adds to his impressive resume with another heartfelt performance. Ecstatically and statistically speaking, this actor's average as a major talent grows with every film he chooses lately. Hill has never been more appealing as his nebbish of a business partner. Especially strong is Hoffman as Billy's doubting nemesis. More screen time and further scenes of conflict with this fine actor and Pitt would have only enhanced this fine film even more.
Moneyball triumphs with its behind the scenes look at baseball and its quick-witted dialog and vivid characters. As previously mentioned, I still don't have a love of the game, nor did I love this film, but I did love the masterful performance of Brad Pitt and his fellow acting pros. GRADE: B
NOTE: Visit my movie blog for more reviews: www.dearmoviegoer.com