Movie Review: Moneyball (2011)
I’m probably too big of a baseball fan with too clear of a memory of the 2002 season to really enjoy this movie in the way it’s intended. It’s a fine movie. It’s a baseball movie with less of an eye for the game, and more of an eye for the behind the scenes, and the front office stuff.
I do get the sense that this movie is doing everything it possibly can do to advance its thesis that Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is what made the 2002 Athletics great, and look, there’s no denying he did a great job.
But I also feel like this movie withholds information. For instance, Miguel Tejada was the American League MVP that season, and played shortstop. And I’m not even 100% sure his name is mentioned (you can see it on a unifrom in I think one shot).
Likewise, the ’02 A’s had one of the best pitching staffs of my lifetime, led by Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito, and filled out nicely by Mark Mulder and Mark Mulder, who would combine for six All-Star selections.
But instead our on-field focus is more on Scott Hatteberg, converted catcher/backup first baseman who hit a key home run to extend the A’s winning streak. He’s played by Chris Pratt, in probably his first step towards becoming a movie star.
His is a neat story but the movie definitely makes it feel like he was the reason the A’s were as successful as they were, and that’s just like not true at all.
But perhaps most damning of all, as a Yankees fan, is that this movie seems to be written by someone who wants to paint the Red Sox in a positive light. An end-of-movie caption says that the ’04 Red Sox won the World Series employing Billy Beane’s methods. Which like, yeah, they had Kevin Youkilis, who’s name dropped here, so they clearly cared about getting on base.
But isn’t part of moneyball not overindulging in the free agent market, and not spending much in general? The ’04 Red Sox were one of three teams to spend over $100 million on players. It’s just a weird detail and by no means does it detract from the movie, but it’s just weird.
But at any rate, the movie is pretty good. It’s able to make a part of the game that isn’t naturally interesting to a lot of people, quite interesting. And Brad Pitt is very good. And Jonah Hill is even better.
Rating: 6/10
