Film: Moneyball

GENRE: Drama
RATING: PG-13 for strong language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 13 minutes
STARRING: Brad Pitt (Tree of Life, Ocean’s Eleven) Jonah Hill (Superbad, Get Him to the Greek)
DIRECTOR: Bennett Miller (Capote)
WRITERS: Steve Zaillian (American Gangster, Schindler’s List) & Aaron Sorkin (Social Network, West Wing, A Few Good Men)
PLOT: True story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane tries a new strategy of putting together a team on a small budget.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 Zaillian and Sorkin have crafted a pretty great script. I don’t know who wrote what but it is full of great lines and moments. The scouting and trade talks crackle with sparkling dialogue.
2 The pace runs a little too slow. There is too much space between the pieces of dialogue. It’s like when my students add extra lines between paragraphs to lengthen an essay.
3 Jonah Hill has come a long way from Accepted and Superbad. He is pretty subtle and is fun to watch especially when he is interacting with Brad Pitt.
4 Pitt plays it cool once again (with a hint of quiet desperation). Just like his character in the Ocean’s movies, his Billy Beane is always eating on the run. It’s like Pitt has that in his contract or something. He sure likes to eat.
5 Those who know the sport of baseball will most likely appreciate this film better than me. What I did love was the message behind this film; there is value in everyone, you just have to look for it and help them see it in themselves.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for the DVD
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Ides of March