It pushes the right buttons; it is routed I our deep seeded admiration for people like the hero in Moneyball

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2011)

The basic storyline is simple and based on real events and people; that is the story of baseball's Oakland A's team Manager Billy Beane. This movie pushes the right buttons in most of us, the ones that create followings for the likes of Steve Jobs, because he dared to say he had the better way of what technology had to be, or Richard Branson who affirms "Screw Business as Usual" in times when the world has had enough of just that. The hero in this movie, Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, is to a lesser degree, just that type of person. Billy says (and I'm paraphrasing) "it's an unfair game and we've got to think differently"; he sets out to do just that, first by snatching Peter Brand from the competition when he spotted his unappreciated potential. Then, despite everyone from all his own staff to the media and especially his peers, he stays the course, putting his own future on the line. He eventually makes a believer even out of coach Howe, played by one of my very favorite actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The movie depicts so realistically well how a great manager takes the pressure off his staff and onto himself, while motivating his players, making the tough decisions. The movie further reveals a man who places the right priority in his personal life, putting his love for his daughter and value of that love above his career to the point where he turns down the highest paid team manager contract offered to him by the Boston Red Socks (the details related to that are fascinating). This is the sort of traits that elicit a deep seeded admiration from people and is, in my opinion why the movie has had so much appeal if you go by the ratings.
Moneyball's character of Peter Brand, very well played by Jonah Hill (his best, and I liked him in 'Knocked Up' and 'Get Him to the Greek') , immediately brought to mind the August 3rd 2008 Morley Safer interview of and news piece on Bill James, which '60 Minutes' segment had fascinated me at the time. When researching the material Michael Lewis used for his book, I was very pleased to find out that it was indeed featuring the man's (Bill James) ground braking approach to evaluating players that '60Minutes' had reported back in 2008; sabermetrics, the statistical/analytical process is depicted in the movie. Coincidentally, another '60 Minutes' piece, this one by Steve Croft on March 14th 2010, was my introduction to Michael Lewis; following that reporting, I rushed and bought 'The Big Short' and have been a fan since. Oddly, in a relatively recent interview of Lewis on 'The Daily Show', he admitted he never thought his book 'Moneyball' would make an interesting movie and gave all the credit to Aaron Sorkin (and Steven Zaillian). I agree; Sorkin can write a script about almost any subject of interest to him and make it a hit. He does so frequently. No secret that I'm a huge fan of Sorkin; don't know a single actor who wouldn't jump for joy to play a part written by Sorkin. Brad Pitt's star power did not hurt the rating a bit either.
It's a pretty good movie; I sure liked it, but I have to say hype has influenced the rating to a certain extent. It is not the best movie of the year; it's safe to say most will like it. It's presumptuous to say it's the best when you've watched perhaps just a dozen or so. Let's wait for awards' season shall we.