There may be no crying in baseball, but there sure is a lot of talking

Rating: 6/10 (16 January 2012)

So last year it seemed like one of the most talked about movies was Moneyball, everyone has been screaming about Brad Pitt's performance, so I was more than enthused to rent this film. I'm also a baseball fan, it's my favorite sport, so I thought I would naturally connect to this film as well as my fiancé who just a sports fanatic in general. Baseball is a tricky sport though, some consider it very boring and some consider it thrilling. So I was thinking that people would hated baseball would not get into this film, but over all the reviews have been more than positive. I actually think this was a good film, however for the first time in my baseball life, I found it kind of dull. Don't get me wrong, this is a really good movie, but I don't find the story that fascinating. I know that it's a story that was about the way we changed how we look at athletes when recruiting for teams, however the film can drag out a bit and doesn't get really good until the ending.
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane is upset by his team's loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 post season. Beane attempts to devise a strategy for assembling a competitive team for 2002 but struggles to overcome Oakland's limited player payroll. During a visit to the Cleveland Indians, Beane meets Peter, a young Yale economics graduate with radical ideas about how to assess players' value. Beane tests Brand's theory by asking whether he would have drafted him, Beane having been a Major League player before becoming general manager. Sensing opportunity, Beane hires Brand as the Athletics' assistant general manager changing the way that baseball looks at athletes forever.
I liked the exploration with Billy Beane, showing him not just as a man who is trying to pull his team back up but also a struggling father. He's human, he makes mistakes and has fears like any other man. I loved Brad's chemistry with Jonah, who I must say has come a long way in acting, I thought this guy to be nothing more but a man child who annoyed me in every role he ever took. I really liked Jonah Hill in this movie, he plays off the big boy actors very well just like his character in the film sort of speak. I loved seeing the rise of the Oakland A's, almost rooting for them as they are actually winning the games and becoming a real team(even though I'm a devote Cubs fan lol). Like I said before, despite all the good, I think the film is a bit too long and talky at times. I'm not sure if this was a good way to convert those who are not into baseball onto the sport. I know that's not the film's intention, but I like to see people get excited about baseball as it is an exciting sport. Brad does a great job, I'm not sure if this is my favorite role with him, but if he gets an Oscar nomination for it, good for him! I would just recommend this movie as a rental though if you really do want to see it, but it's one of those movies I saw once and more than happy with that.
6/10