The Dark Side of the Plate

Moneyball

***1/2 out of ****

Directed by: Bennett Miller

Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Pratt and Robin Wright

Running time: 133 minutes

From Gary Cooper’s teary proclamation that he was the luckiest man on the face of the earth to Kevin Costner hearing the ghosts of baseball’s past and building his own field of dreams, American baseball movies usually hit past our emotional fences. They are, essentially, idealized and romanticized love letters to an adored cultural pastime.

But if The Pride of the Yankees and Field of Dreams represent the pinnacle of sweet, good-natured, fundamentally all-American entertainment, then Moneyball may be the most terrible addition to baseball cinema one could conceive. It is a cold, cynical and deeply conflicted film about the value of the human spirit. In other words, it’s a business picture rather than a sports film.

See how in the film’s compound title that ‘money’ precedes the word ‘ball’? There’s a reason for that. Moneyball examines baseball not by the play-by-play on the field, but by the backroom deals that can ultimately guarantee that one team goes further in the playoffs than another.

Based off a compelling read by business and sports writer Michael Lewis, Moneyball begins with a playoff game between the New York Yankees (at that time, the richest team in baseball) and the Oakland Athletics (the poorest, with nearly a third of the earnings of their rival). New York eliminates Oakland, and then to sour the wound even further, begins pilferating the Athletics' top players for the next season. The Yankees can do that because their payroll allows them to.

Enter Billy Beane, the Athletics’ general manager, played by Brad Pitt. Devastated by the loss and having to deal with managing an unfair financial situation, Beane realizes that the only way to fight back against the baseball behemoths is through changing the approach to the game. "Adapt or die," he says to the team's coach in one scene. (The coach is played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who could have used far more screen time.)

While trying to raise some extra funding, Beane meets a patient but keenly intelligent sports analyst named Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). Brand explains to him how there are many undervalued players who have worth as competent athletes because they get on base, yet are marginalized by major league teams for small quirks and differences. These players are cheap to pick up but can deliver runs. Beane instantly hires Brand, and the two start to build a new approach to the Oakland franchise.

Brad Pitt is currently batting 1.000 in 2011 with an exceptional turn in this, as well as The Tree of Life. But for an actor whose youthful vitality shines through in many of his roles, he looks seasoned and contemplative here. Pitt takes the opportunity to explore Beane as a has-been trying to pursue a second chance in the major leagues. (Beane was a young MLB player in the 1980s but never reached the heights of his potential.)

Now, his redemption comes from organizing a team with players who are undervalued and under-appreciated. But, this is an underdog story that doesn’t come from the players’ perspectives.

Pitt is very natural in scenes with his preteen daughter (Kerris Dorsey), as well as when he develops a professor-protégé relationship with Brand. Meanwhile, Hill makes a nice transition to dramatic fare. It is fun to see how the stocky, awkward statistics expert develops into a major player on the Athletics staff.

Director Bennett Miller (Capote) intends to steer through the shreds of warmth and modest hope of the cold baseball empire. As a result, the film is not flashy—it rarely steps onto the field or shows any footage that would make it into a highlight reel.

Interestingly, Miller and writers Stephen Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin capture the human element of baseball in an ironic way: by focusing on Beane and Brand, who are essentially numbing the human spirit of baseball by bringing statistics and computer-generated analysis into play. The film analyzes baseball as a financial entity rather than a game.

Moneyball is a film that does not invigorate the love of the game but deconstructs it. It is a sad reflection of America’s pasttime at the current moment, and it explores this with nuanced performances and spare but powerful direction. It’s a very different kind of baseball movie, but also one of the finest sports films in recent memory.