Moneyball (2011)

starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman

directed by Bennett Miller

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the general manager for the Oakland A's, attempts to rebuild the team after losing 3 star players. He has a shoe-string budget with which to hire the talent needed. His first hire isn't a player but an economist, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). Brand has analyzed the game and come up with a statistics based approach to figuring out which players to sign.

Brand's approach doesn't sit well with the Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the manager of the team, or the team's scouts. Beane faces a lot of criticism for what he is doing to the team before the season begins. He fully buys into Brand's baseline approach to baseball which is that the most important statistic is on base percentage. The team stumbles out of the gate which doesn't make things any easier for Billy.

Art is the one picking the players who get playing time.  He plays the players he wants to play. They aren't the players that Billy wants him to play. Billy decides he has to shake things up. He trades a number of the players that Art prefers and brings in more players that seem wrong to most people but that seem right to him and to Brand.

Things start to come together. The team starts to play better. It puts together a win streak that sets a new record. A's don't win or even make it to the World Series but they have a very memorable season. Billy gets an offer from the Boston Red Sox owner but he decides to stay in Oakland.

Running in the background of this movie is also the story of Billy Beane. It probably consumes less than 20 percent of the movie. 

Thoughts

This story is based on the book of the same name by Michael Lewis. I read the book a few years ago. The book is about the team but it is not a narrative story like the movie. There are things added to the movie that I'm pretty sure were not in the book. There are probably things that were in the book that did not make it into the movie. The book is about the scheme that the Billy Beane and Peter Brand used. It is a collection of stories. Each chapter is about a different player or situation. It does not follow the team through the course of the season. The facts are all there but the book just isn't laid out as the story of the season.

I liked the movie, even though it isn't the book. I don't think it is great but it is good and it has some great moments. I like the sense of humor that the movie seems to have. There are some laugh out loud funny moments. The humor is subtle, not slapstick.

I am not a baseball fan. I've watched it on occasion. I don't watch sports much these days. I know enough to understand how the game is played and how it works. I don't think you need to be a baseball fan to enjoy this movie. It is also worth noting that this movie will probably not please everyone who read the book. There are hints of the details that are in the book but that's all.