Melanie's Review of Moneyball

I canât say enough about this film.
Moneyball is what movies are supposed to be. It is an exceptionally written, directed and acted piece of mastery.
The movie is based on the true story of how Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Aâs, changed the way baseball recruits its players. Since half the North American population already knows something about what he did, I neednât struggle to evade revealing too much.
The synopsis for this film alone would have put me to sleep normally but positive buzz lead me to viewing what I now consider to be the front-runner in the âbest filmâ category at this yearâs Oscars. I would actually put money on it. I also think Brad Pitt might actually get his third Oscar nomination for playing Billy Beane the failed ball player, turned scout, turned general manager.
I believe Brad to be my generations Robert Redford and he proved it with his performance in this movie. Â It was so subtle, so nuanced, and never over-done. I must admit that sometimes I forget how talented he is.
I must also admit that I was pretty shocked to hear that Jonah Hill was co-starring in this film. Having starred in the raunchy comedies Superbad, Get Him to the Greek, and The Sitter, I figured that heâd remain a âone-trick ponyâ and that eventually people would get sick of him and move on. Moneyball seemed to be so far outside of his scope of ability, but I gotta say⦠this is also very much his movie as it is Pitt's. This is the movie that will change the course of his career. Jonah Hill can actually act. His portrayal of Peter Brand, the completely green, recent economics grad from Yale who invented the new system of creating a baseball team, was so spot-on.
Also headlining in Moneyball is Philip Seymour Hoffman. Iâm not sure why his name is on all of the posters, given that heâs in the movie for all of five minutes⦠not that Iâm complaining. I love Seymour Hoffman â" the man is a genius. However, his role of Art Howe, the head coach for the Oakland Aâs, was pretty small. I would have loved to have him in the movie more. He probably did the film as a favour to the director Bennett Miller, who also directed him in Capote (which coincidentally is the only other film that Miller has directed).
In order to avoid boring all of you with a list of other bit parts in the film, I will simply state that the actors that were chosen to play all of the teamâs players and employees were excellent - they all brought heart and depth to the film.
The only area in Moneyball that lacked for me was Bradâs chemistry with his on-screen daughter played by Kerris Dorsey. Although sheâs a lovely girl who is a TV veteran at the ripe old age of 13 - and possesses an almost angelic singing voice - she never seemed to connect with Brad as her dad. Not sure if it was her acting, or if it was the script. Their relationship just never worked for me.
Next to the main two actors, the best part of the film to me was the beautifully crafted script. As a West Wing addict, I can spot Aaron Sorkinâs work anywhere. Sorkin has an incredible gift with words and a knack for sculpting characters that you fall in love with. The script was co-written with Steven Zaillian, who happens to be the screenplay writer to some of my favourite movies (Awakenings, Searching for Bobby Fischer, and Schindlerâs List). So for me it is a match made in heaven. And it worked very well, as the audience laughed out loud at so many points during the movie that I lost track of how many times. Sorkin and Zaillian took a potentially dull topic and breathed dazzling life into it.
Moneyball is one of the best films Iâve seen in a long time. It is the kind of film that Hollywood should strive to make more often. Do yourself a favour⦠go see this film. I enjoyed it so much, that Iâm planning on going to see it again as soon as I can â" which is saying a lot since I donât even know who Billy Beane is.
