Moneyball
This tale of innovation, numbers and underdogs in Major League Baseball is still as watchable as ever.
PRE-GAME ⚾️
Welcome back to Balls on Film! 👋🏻
I hope everyone has had a great week. I’ve been pretty busy with lots of work and life stuff, and just trying to also balance a lot of responsibilities with also making time for watching sports movies, and doing fun stuff too. Recently, I feel like I blink after the work day is over, and suddenly it’s time to go to sleep again. There really aren’t enough hours in the day!
With the MLB post-season in full swing, I thought it was only right to pick a baseball title for this week’s movie. If you’re a fan, you’ll know that the Oakland Athletics played their last game at the historic Coliseum last month too. Oakland are to be relocated to Las Vegas within the next couple of years, and will play the next few seasons at a temporary venue in Sacramento. It’s a great loss for the sport, and for A’s fans - but more on that later. Let’s celebrate the Oakland Athletics and postseason baseball and look back at Moneyball.
FIRST HALF ⚾️
Moneyball isn’t your typical sports film. Adapted from Michael Lewis’ 2003 book, it swaps home runs, on-field drama and big game-winning moments for conversations and spreadsheets. Despite this, it’s a widely accessible movie, and ultimately transforms all of its talk of numbers, contracts and probabilities into something much more profound: a film that is as much about human resilience as it is about the game of baseball. Sports movies are often about the underdog team, and their rise to glory. This is an underdog tale quite like no other.
Brad Pitt delivers one of his most nuanced performances as Billy Beane, a former player turned manager who is haunted by his own failures in baseball. Faced with losing his best players to rival teams with more money, he rejects the traditional player scouting system and instead teams up with Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a Yale economics graduate who believes in ‘sabermetrics’ - an analytical, data-driven approach to evaluating players. Together, they attempt to rebuild the Oakland A’s using undervalued players that other teams have passed on. If you weren’t already aware, the film is based on the true story of the Oakland Athletics 2002 season.
Brad Pitt may be on all of the posters, but Jonah Hill’s performance here is one of his best too, and one of the first dramatic ones of his career. I actually remember when the film was released, and having only known him as a comedy actor at the time - thinking that Hill in a statistics-heavy sports drama about the Oakland Athletics would never work. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Like most other elements of the film, Hill’s performance is subtle, but powerful. Brand is clearly extremely smart, but Hill brings a vulnerability to the character. He’s also much more reserved, where Beane is intense, which is what makes their dynamic work so well. There’s a lot of subtle, understated humour from Hill here, and it adds laughs without feeling forced. It also helps Brand become a much more relatable and likeable character, and not just a stereotypical numbers guy.
The film features a stacked supporting cast alongside Pitt and Hill. The late Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as Art Howe, the frustrated stuck-in-the-old-ways manager, whose tension with Beane drives much of the drama. Chris Pratt plays Scott Hatteberg, a former catcher turned first baseman with no experience at the position. I loved Hatteberg’s arc, which actually culminates with my favourite scene in the whole movie - more on that later. The initial meeting between Beane and Hatteberg, and him navigating the manager’s hesitancy to actually play him at the position Beane wants adds a nice dose of drama which breaks up the boardroom scheming and numbers talk, despite that stuff already being interesting.
It’s actually the behind-the-scenes strategy stuff where the heart of Moneyball resides. As we’ve already touched on, there’s barely any actual sports here, which is odd considering it’s regarded by many as one of the best sports movies ever. The tension here builds, instead, as Beane battles skeptics within his own organisation and pushes against the sports traditions. Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is what allows what would usually be a pretty dry subject matter for non-baseball fans to shine, and turns it into something compelling. I love dialogue in this film, and how it even makes the quieter moments gripping. Watching Beane Brand talk other teams into trades over the phone is as exhilarating as any other sports movie’s big final game moments. The film is as much about leadership and risk-taking as it is about baseball.
Bennet Miller’s directing here also deserves praise. There’s a masterful use of silence throughout the film - Beane on his drives or working out solo at the gym as he battles with his decisions, the tension in locker room following a heated internal discussion - everything is given space to breathe and simmer along and let’s us contemplate the strategy and decisions being made right alongside Beane.
Moneyball may not deliver typical sports movie adrenaline and big-game moments, but it provides a look behind the curtain at what ultimately leads to all of that. The focus isn’t on thrill of victory, but on the challenge of innovation and risk-taking. It offers an incredibly unique and nuanced look at America’s pastime, and it shows that the real drama often lies not in the game itself, but in the choices that are made away from the spotlight.
Moneyball is available to buy or rent via most digital stores. It’s also currently streaming on Netflix in the UK, where I watched for this review.
HALFTIME ⚾️
Let’s take a break for halftime. Grab some refreshments and settle in for the second half.
Let’s get into what else I’ve been watching this week.
Salem’s Lot (2024)
There were some basic ingredients of a good movie here, but Gary Dauberman’s adaptation of Salem’s Lot has been cut to pieces so much, that’s its impossible to put anything strong together from what’s left. There are some enjoyable characters and a fun and spooky small town setting, but it’s all over the place in terms of tone, and parts of it feel like an episode of Nickelodeon’s ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’. It also feels, weirdly, like a Hallmark movie at times, when it comes to how it’s shot. There’s little character development because of how much has been cut, and how rushed the whole thing feels. Jordan Preston Carter is great, though.
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I saw this pop up on my Prime Video app the other day. I can’t wait for this one! Anyone else going to be watching?
Now, let’s get back out on to the field.
SECOND HALF ⚾️
Let’s jump into some awards and bonus content.
BEST SCENE 🏆
Obviously, I was tempted to choose the ‘How can you not be romantic about baseball’ scene for this, but this always gets me on rewatch. There’s so much in the film that builds to this moment, and I love how it’s where Beane finally decides to buck his trend of not watching any of the games. It’s also one of the few moments of the film that actually takes place on the baseball field, and contains any actual sport. It’s such an emotional moment, and you’re fully invested in the team when it actually happens. Beautiful.
And if you’ve never seen it, here’s the real life version:
BEST LINE 🏆
Billy Beane: How can you not be romantic about baseball?
MVP AWARD 🏆
This is probably in my top three Brad Pitt performances ever, so I’m giving this to him. I love the locker room scene where he confronts
IMDB TRIVIA HIGHLIGHT 🏆
Since there was no money to shoot in all the stadiums the Oakland Athletics visited, Dodger Stadium was dressed up as eight different ballparks.
BEST LETTERBOXD REVIEW 🏆
I know so many people who have also experienced this.
BONUS FEATURE 💿
This is a really interesting feature on the real story behind the movie.
And here are some deleted scenes and outtakes. The deleted scenes don’t really add anything, but they’re still cool to see.
POST-GAME ⚾️
Even as a Yankees fan, I don’t want to really talk about the real life owner of the Oakland Athletics, John Fisher, who is without a doubt the worst team owner in baseball. What he’s done to that team and the fan-base is nothing short of lousy, and everyone deserves better. It’s heartbreaking to see the team leave the city. If you don’t know the background, I wanted to end with a few videos on the topic.
Here’s an overlook look at the history of the team, the miserable owner and everything that’s happened. It’s well worth a watch:
Here’s Rich Eisen weighing-in on the final game and the whole situation:
And finally, here is the historic final out in the Oakland Coliseum from last month:
NBA season is rapidly approaching, and with Opening Night next week, I thought I’d select a highly requested title for next week - Space Jam! In the meantime, let me know what you’ve been watching, and what you thought of Moneyball!
See you next week.
~James
Would you believe I've never seen this? Shameful, I know...I really need to! It's sports and business which I find very interesting.