"Moneyball" is the story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) a former baseball player turned general manager for the Oakland Athletics. Along the way, he teams up Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a recent Yale graduate, and together they turn the losing Oakland Athletics into a competitive team and change the way baseball is played.
Brad Pitt plays the part with conviction. His charming performance makes the audience really root for him and sympathize with his character. Jonah Hill is nothing spectacular, but he's not terrible either. His joking teenager persona that he usually plays is not present here. Unfortunately, he's overshadowed by Pitt. The other supporting actors such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Pratt, and Robin Wright all contribute their talent to the movie and play well off of Pitt.
Overall, "Moneyball" is great movie. Even with my limited knowledge in baseball, I was able to follow the story. The music is subtle but effective and the script by Aaron Sorkin can even make talking heads exciting. Based on the true story of Billy Beane and the book of the same name, some liberties were taken, but the changes do not take away from the story at all. I fully expect "Moneyball" to get some recognition when Oscar season comes around. Even if you're not a baseball person (like me) I fully suggest seeing this movie.
9/10
One Sentence Review: The "Social Network", but with Baseball.
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As an ex professional baseball player and currently a scout with a MLB team, I really liked Moneyball. I read and loved the book and I looked forward to the movie. This movie is for people that are baseball fans and if you are not a baseball fan, you might not get it. The majority of teams use stats to determine player development, draft, and trades and the way Moneyball depicted the "old school" method and "new" method is right on.
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