Moneyball (2011)

This is another great film with a sensation performance from Brad Pitt, whom I don't normally like, though he was also quite good in Babel. Moneyball details a year in the life of Billy Beane, the manager of the Oakland Athletics, and his struggles to make the team with with extremely limited funds (at least in baseball terms), under $40 million per season while the Yankees have over one hundred million dollars to do so.
Pitt as Beane delivers the performance of his life, begging the team's owner for more money and trying to atone for his own awful career, which never panned out though he was signed with a generous offer. Beane is also a doting father, though separated from his wife and that dictates much of what he does. He wants better for his daughter.
Playing opposite Pitt is the pre-slimmed down Jonah Hill as the fictional character (based on an actual person) Peter Brand who is an economic genius and can crunch numbers quicker than anyone. Brand, however, has a weird philosophy when it comes to baseball. As long as the player gets on base, nothing else about them matters, not their criminal record or past injuries. Ironically, when asked, Brand states that he would have drafted Billy in the ninth round without the signing bonus. Billy muses that then he would have taken the scholarship to Stanford instead. Who knows what would have happened then?
Despite the odds, Beane follows Brand's seemingly crazy theory much to the chargrin of the A's manager, Art Howe (another brilliant performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the tons of scouts. And at first, nothing seems to be going right, but then, things pick up. He truly believes in what he does and shakes things up. Hatteberg (Chris Pratt) an injured catcher is taught to play first base, but the coach doesn't use him at first base despite all of Billy's pleading. He finally gives in only after the first basement he uses is traded and literally has no choice but to use Hatteberg. However, will the A's be able to beat the bigger, richer and better teams?
The Oakland A's also do the impossible, winning twenty straight games in a row, a true miracle but Billy is too superstitious to even watch the games and when he finally does, it almost blows up in his face.
The movie is somewhat of a feel good film, though there are tons of moments of where one false move, and everything would slip right out of Beane's fingers, namely his job. And despite being largely a sports film, a sports hater will still find reasons to like this film, namely the perfect script and excellent performances, in addition to Pitt and Hill, the rest of the cast delivers. For sports fans, this is an absolute must! Grade: A