Moneyball

Director: Bennett Miller (2011)

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Pratt, Robin Wright

This is a biopick of how the sport of baseball evolved in the the early 2000’s into the current analytical game. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill deliver underrated and most excellent performances. Fine ensemble acting, as well as the late great Phillip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final great performances.

Adapted from the best-selling book of the same name, Moneyball provides a detailed and intimate look behind the scenes as groundbreaking Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (Pitt) turns the game of baseball on its head.

Looking at the game through the lens of his traditionally cash-strapped club, Beane and his stats-geek new assistant GM Peter Brand (Hill) starts exploring concepts such as market inefficiencies — on-base percentage happened to be undervalued at the time — and making radical roster changes while drawing the ire of manager Art Howe (Seymour Hoffman) by practically writing the lineup himself.

The results? No World Series rings, but from 2000 to 2006 nobody did more with less, turning Beane into one of the game’s executive superstars.

Opinion/Review: The film unfolds with the 2002 season as the backdrop, and because the A’s lost in the first round of the playoffs that season, we’re spared the cliché of the film ending with a dog pile on the mound, celebrating Oakland’s first world championship under Beane. Rather, a record-setting 20-game winning streak that ends in an awfully dramatic way of its own provides an extended and satisfying climax. The film takes a few too many liberties, such as players having to pay for soda in the clubhouse (never happened), and the casting of Seymour Hoffman as a bitter and slovenly Howe is a head scratcher, but the entire cast is rock solid and the baseball scenes are believable

Fun Facts: Royce Clayton, a former big-league shortstop, plays Oakland shortstop Miguel Tejada. … Outfielder David Justice, first baseman Scott Hatteberg and Howe were initially slated to play themselves in the oft delayed and rewritten production. … Moneyball earned six Oscar nominations, including best actor for Pitt and best supporting actor for Hill.