MONEYBALL 3.75 ***



This is a the high quality drama …. a baseball-docu-drama…. But one even folks with zero baseball knowledge can enjoy and be moved by.

The role of Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, is an incredibly demanding one. While there are tons of dialog, hack arguments, display of physical rage, etc; it is the silent storytelling, emotional turmoil, change-of-heart reflections and so on that are the toughest to convey and requires a well-seasoned character actor. This is easily Brad at his widest acting range - and you see all of it in a little over two hours.

Jonah Hill's performance in the film is phenomenal, and this may be the break that that young actor has been joshing for. His portrayal of Peter Brand, a Yale Economics major and full time computer nerd is beyond believable .

Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of the ready-to-exit Oakland A's coach, Art Howe, caught between "the for-sure old money" and the "crazy senseless new reality", is right on . They couldn’t have cast this part any better. Hoffman delivers in every single scene and you literally sweat his frustration along with him. This foil to Brad Pitt's character is quite effective and makes for some heavy- drama with Brad.

This is an "onion" movie in that it peels back layers of good drama as it goes along each adding to the overall effect.. It is an entertaining account of modern baseball history - how player statistics became one of the most important factors determining financial success in modern baseball and how a washed-out General Managers , Brad Pitt, finally wakes up to that approach - and finds himself becoming one of the greatest innovators of the modern game.


At this historic moment in time, the message really hits a home-run! Other than baseball, we've recently witnessed similar changes and conflicts played out in public across the automobile, music distribution, movie distribution, book distribution, home computer, banking , and many other industries. Every unemployed in a vanishing industry can easily identify with the old Billy Beane. It’s how Billy leverages his disappointment and experience, to turn his life around that we can all aspire to.

It’s been nominated for several Oscars including Best Picture; Best Actor (Pitt), Best Supporting Actor(Hill) and Best Adapted Screen Play.

Clark