Good sports films are hard to come by. Either the subject matter feels prohibitively technical so only big sports fans (or worse, fans of one particular team) will appreciate the movie, or the movie is dumbed down to the point of hackneyed melodrama. Luckily, "Moneyball" is not your run-of-the-mill sports movie. Thanks to Bennett Miller's efficient direction and the script's sharp dialogue, the movie manages to satisfy both baseball geeks and laymen to whom watching baseball means cotton candy and nachos.
The film opens exactly as you would expect any inspirational sports film to begin: with a quote from an athletic bigwig, Mickey Mantle in this case. Sprinkle in a little vintage baseball footage, and you've got yourself a pretty insipid opening. But the film quickly deviates from the norm. For example, we spend most of the movie in offices or meeting rooms, not on the field. After all, if viewers really wanted to see superb sports plays, they could stay at home and watch ESPN highlights.
Effective sports movies provide the viewer with a different perspective on the sport, and often that means shifting the central drama off the field. Just think of the last sports film that appealed to the mainstream crowd, "The Blind Side" (2009). The movie's main football player, Michael Oher, was relegated to an oversized prop for Sandra Bullock's Oscar-winning performance. Other films recognize that the biggest emotional moments occur before or after the game; think of Al Pacino's speech in "Any Given Sunday" (1999) or the depressing second act to "Raging Bull" (1980).
In this case, we are given the story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the general manager of the underpaid Oakland Athletics. When forced to construct a winning team with only a fraction of his competitors' budgets, Beane joins forces with Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a brainy but weak-willed economist, to outsmart the richer teams and revolutionize Major League Baseball.
Following the A's playoff elimination in 2001, we see Beane struggle with his recruiters and staff members over how to rebuild the team with a paltry payroll. To make matters worse, better-financed teams have poached Oakland's best players. "We are the organ donors for the rich," Beane complains after losing his three best players — Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi and Jason Isringhausen. With everyone cherry-picking their best players, Oakland remains in the shadow of more prominent and financially capable teams.
This sense of inadequacy might resonate with Jumbos; after all, many Ivies have leeched faculty from our campus over the years. Am I suggesting that University President Anthony Monaco employ Sabermetrics to hire future teachers and admit future students? No, although the results would certainly grab some headlines.
Wally Pfister, best known for his cinematography in virtually every Christopher Nolan movie, serves as the director of photography, resulting in a crisply shot film. The camera often hones in on Brad Pitt, separating him from his fellow actors. We see him in profile, sitting alone in either his car or the empty grandstands of the O.co Coliseum. These shots convey the message that Beane is an outcast, a leper within the baseball community.
Even Beane's own staff voiced doubts. The arguments between Beane and his head coach (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) are tense. These quarrels remind viewers that, for these characters, baseball isn't just a game, and it most certainly matters if you win or lose.
While every performance is strong, the movie's biggest surprise comes from Jonah Hill. His portrayal of a Yale-educated economist who helps Beane rebuild the Athletics is subtle and restrained. Hill succeeds in breaking out of his tubby typecast by replacing the hyperactive gesticulations and vulgarity of his earlier work with nuanced nervousness. When Beane asks who he is, Hill retreats into his neck so that only a wedge of chin juts out. "I'm nobody," he says, his mouth agape with confusion.
As the film progresses, we watch as Brand comes out of his shell, befriends Beane and eventually assumes an active role within the Athletics management. He is the real underdog in this sports movie, and we root for him each step of the way.
