Moneyball (2011) Review

Based on a true story of how Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane attempted to put a baseball team together on a small budget. Using computer generated analysis on the players stats bringing in Peter Brand to help with that side.

The main question is can you pick players based on the computer analysis and stats of what they should be able to do, or do you have to still watch them play. Would it be possible to put a team together from the stats, this is what we get to see in this film. The early suggestions are that it did not work, but that was soon to be proven wrong it was shown that it did work it just took a little bit longer for the team to gel together.

The players they picked up for the team had been dropped from other teams, or starting to age and not wanted by other teams. This obviously meant confidence problems for all of the players, so that’s something on the coaching and managing side which had to be addressed to really get the best out of the players.

Brad Pitt’s performance as Billy Beane really was inspiring. The character had many levels, we slowly get to see what he went through in the past as a player and how that has affected his whole life. I liked the way we saw his story in flashback form throughout the film as it really fit together well in showing that he still thinks about this moments, and how they related to his current situation. I think that’s something important to know about the character as well, that he doesn’t forget anything, the memories never go away.

We don’t just see Billy doing his job and being involved in baseball, we also see that he is a good father and sees and talks to his daughter as often as possible. I think that was another important thing that we needed to know about the character as he seemed to really listen to his daughter (even though she was only 12). I really liked the added touch of the song she had written and then the CD with her singing it at the end. Brilliant finish to the film, won’t spoil the actual baseball parts. Although I am sure anyone in the US will already no the ending! Yes I am from England and don’t know much about baseball, but seem to be drawn to baseball films!

After watching this film I can really understand why it was nominated for 6 Oscars and had a lot of Oscar buzz at the time of its release. All really deserved as it was such a good film to watch, you could not help but enjoy it and really support what Billy and Peter were doing, as curiosity to if it would work or not.

Jonah Hill really impressed me in this film, probably because he always seems to be in films where he has a stupid character who does rather silly things. So to see him take on a more serious role in a drama and hold his own with Brad Pitt, picking up an Oscar nomination on the way really was brilliant to watch.

I think the title really does say it all about the state of most sports now, with money in the title that is what it has all ended up about. But the money in this story was more about the lack of it and how this team compared to those who had loads of money for very high wages! I can see that with football in the UK!