Computer geeks win acceptance in beer-swilling, baseball jock fraternity

Rating: 5/10 (4 March 2012)

In many respects, 'Moneyball' is not any different from most 'baseball' movies that place the national pastime on its ubiquitous, saccharine pedestal. That can be expected. Where 'Moneyball' differs, is that it seeks to invite a new 'player' to the table—the computer geek. Now all the aspiring Bill Gates' of the world can take a seat with the battle-scarred, beer-swilling veterans, who've been analyzing the game for years, utilizing an intuition grounded in their 'gut' perceptions, instead of a set of statistics, organized by a computer program. This is the basic premise of Brad Pitt's overrated Academy Award nominated film, which is more about the business of baseball, than the game itself.
For awhile, the story of Billy Beane, the former mediocre baseball player turned general manager of the Oakland A's baseball team, proves to be fairly interesting. After failing to beat the NY Yankees in the first round of the playoffs in 2001, the owner of the As gives Beane an ultimatum: win the World Series next year, but with a vastly reduced budget (as the A's principal players, such as Jason Giambi, have been traded away). Beane meets with his staff of scouts (played by former professional baseball players and scouts), who lend a real air of credibility to the proceedings. That group appears to be clueless and sends Beane in search of a new approach to resolve his quandary of finding underrated baseball talent, without the aid of the big bucks.
While attempting to negotiate a trade with the Cleveland Indians, Beane discovers a low level Indian employee, statistician Peter Brand, a Yale graduate, who picks players by means of sophisticated computer analysis (Brand is a composite character based primarily on Beane's real-life top assistant, Paul DePodesta, who refused permission to use his name in the film). Geeky Jonah Hill plays Brand, and for half of Act 2, he advises Beane on which bargain basement players to trade for. Brand looks primarily at 'on base percentage' and Beane (with Brand in tow) makes a house call , on one occasion, to fading major league catcher, Scott Hatteberg, asking him whether he'd be interested in converting to playing first base (the answer is of course, affirmative!). Beane manages to pick up more bargains, including submarine hurler, Chad Bradford, with the aid of Brand, and by the time spring training rolls around, Beane is confident that his motley crew, can compete against the more financially endowed teams, including their ultimate nemesis: the Yanks!
The drama (and one's interest), only lasts for a little while longer. There's an effective scene where Beane comes into conflict with his scouting crew, who resent the presence of Brand, and his disdain for their 'intuition'. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, manages to acquit himself nicely as A's manager, Art Howe, who doesn't like Beane telling him how to manage his team (but his part is all too brief). Sadly, the narrative eventually has nowhere to go, as there's virtually no additional interesting enough conflict, which propelled the characters so fitfully along, in the film's first half. The A's 20 game winning streak is attributed to Brand's highly questionable miracle system (it should be noted that the A's still had some 'big money' holdovers, such as pitchers Zito and Hudson, who were not selected as a result of Brand's machinations). Brand has little to do in the second half of the film, except act as Beane's glorified cheerleader, with Beane, now wheeling and dealing on his own, sometimes acting outside the purview of his brainiac assistant. Nonetheless, the film's scenarists afford the geeky Brand, with his own hagiography, now allowed to sit at the table with 'the big boys'.
Without a doubt, 'Moneyball' has perhaps the most anti-climactic climax, in recent film history. Not only do the A's fail to make the first round of the Division playoffs but we're told that Beane is still trying to earn his first World Series ring. Even more embarrassing (and this is supposed to be impressive), we're told that the Red Sox, utilizing Beane and Brand's statistical approach, win their first World Series since 1918, a couple of years later. Beane's consolation prize is thus held up as some kind of great victory for humanity!
'Moneyball' is one of the few baseball films, that refuses to fictionalize the characters they are portraying. Unfortunately, we learn next to nothing about any of them, except for the fact that they have hearts of gold (again, as to be expected). Some time is spent portraying the aging David Justice, as a surly, 'non-team' player. But after a pep talk from Beane, he agrees to 'step up to the plate', and provide guidance to the 'younger players', who soon come together and accomplish the miracle 20 game winning streak.
All-Star writers Sorkin and Zaillian fall flat in attempting to infuse Beane's character, with a meaningful internal arc. Beane must not only overcome his past failure as a player (which we see in a series of flashbacks), but also must bond with his teenage daughter. Beane's nobility is undercut by such pretentious pronouncements as "money is not important", even though he's portrayed as a ruthless wheeler dealer, who uses shady tactics to gain an advantage over his rivals. According to Beane, introducing the new dry world of statistics, is what he wants to be remembered for, not earning a World Series ring.
'Moneyball' must also contend with the additional deficit of another 'phone in' Brad Pitt performance. No matter how hard he tries, Pitt invariably cannot play anyone but Brad Pitt. Ultimately, Pitt should not be completely blamed for attempting to elevate Beane (and baseball) to mythic status. In the end, however, it's the general public, who, year after year, places the 'national pastime', on that saccharine pedestal. After all, baseball, is nothing more than a business and entertainment spectacle, and anyone who tells you otherwise, is, I believe, trying to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.