A great GREAT baseball movie

Rating: 10/10 (27 July 2013)

Brad Pitt portrays Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane in a semi-accurate rendition of the A's 2002 season. The A's have lost three key players from a 102 win season and Pitt challenges his manager and scouting staff by using statistical analysis, rather than traditional scouting, to select his new players. Pitt's portrayal of Beane, a one-time top prospect as a player who failed miserably in the big show, is Oscar winning stuff. The rest of the cast is equally good - there is top flight acting throughout this movie, including a truly engaging performance by Kerris Dorsey as Beane's daughter. Beane himself is portrayed as part recluse, part prick, part realist, but always committed to winning despite his small budget. Not that this movie is without concerns. Doing something like this with characters from real life raises a real issue - this is not a completely accurate portrayal of the 2002 Oakland A's. The movie ignores the stars on the A's at that time and makes it look like Beane did it all with smoke and mirrors. In fact, he had two of the best young pitchers in baseball and current or future all-stars at shortstop, third, and in the outfield. So sit back, enjoy the movie but accept that there's some Hollywood mixed in there.