Sure it's inspiring to an extent, but it's also heavy-going and dull

Rating: 4/10 (26 May 2018)

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is a former baseball player who is now the general manager for the Oakland Athletics. When he is faced with the prospect of losing 3 of his key players, he approaches the 'boss' to try and get more money from him in order to replace these key players. When the 'boss' informs Beane that no more money is available Beane must try to build the best team that he has with the money that he's got; fortunately he is able to recruit stat-man Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who teaches Beane to look at baseball scouting from a completely different angle...
What I know about baseball could be written on the back of a postage stamp and therefore I decided to watch Moneyball hoping that the film would educate me somewhat whilst also providing me with an uplifting story. Whilst it does a little of both, I didn't find Moneyball to be an entirely satisfying product...
One thing I did notice about this film is how cold and clinical it feels; for the most part it's quite dour and depressing and at times it plays out more like a cold documentary than an uplifting piece of cinema. This is further extended to the baseball players within the film; there's no backstory to any of them and no real development to them as people which makes it impossible to root or care for any of them - this is made worse by the rather unceremonious way that they are traded to other teams (again made worse by how accepting some of them are of their dismissals which doesn't sit well with the flow of the film given that Beane had to give Brand a pep talk on how to deal with players reaction to being dismissed). Perhaps Director Bennett Miller wanted to keep the film low-key to avoid it being too melodramatic, but there has to be at least a degree of melodrama otherwise the film can come across as being rather flat and unengaging which is what happens in Moneyball. These things do give the film a rather heavy going feel about it which makes it a bit of a mare to sit through.
I confess to knowing nothing about Baseball so the various stats talks and tactical discussion went over my head (this may cause a problem to non-Baseball fans who choose to watch this film as it does take up a good chunk of the running time and this aspect of the film may be boring to some people - it certainly was for me). I think what makes things worse is that I didn't feel that the film did much to uplift me; I never felt a sense of euphoria at any point and wasn't cheering the Oakland Athletics on in the way the filmmakers wanted me to - although I'm prepared to acknowledge that what they achieved with the money/resources they had was quite a feat. As mentioned, it is a combination of the flat way the film is presented, the weak characterisation, and it's general failure to truly uplift me that were the biggest factors working against the film (the film even finishes on a slightly negative note when providing its summary at the end).
If there are any positives to this film then they lay with the acting; Brad Pitt does really well and is perhaps the only person it is possible to be behind throughout the film; his Billy Beane has the charisma and desire, but his flaws are shown as well which did give me some investment in the film. Jonah Hill is surprisingly low-key, but does well with what he has to work with - my one criticism is that he doesn't develop much of a working chemistry with Pitt which only adds to the multitude of problems I had with this film.
Those with an interest in Baseball may get something out of this, but it did little for me I'm afraid.