Moneyball

Columbia Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 133 Minutes

















Click below to watch the Moneyball trailer.



In Columbia Pictures Moneyball, the major league baseball team Oakland A's general manager Brad Pitt tries to build a winning World Series team in 2002 by building a team of misfit ball players using statistics.

Based on a true story, this is not your typical baseball film in that the film is about the "Business" of baseball instead of about the players "playing a 'children's game.'" The players in the film are treated like commodities instead of athletes as Pitt uses the player's statistical skills to build a winning team the A's can afford instead of paying for expensive talent. In a world where big franchises can afford to pay millions of dollars to get players, that is an intriguing business decision when you only have hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for your players - or using baseball scouts searching for talent. The sports analysts like Bob Costas get on Pitt for using this experimental system on baseball - but totally ignore, or are at least are unaware, that Pitt is operating under a very small budget to produce a World Championship team. Pitt had also been the product of a talent search, which did not turn out well. This is one reason why he is going with this approach.

It was nice to see Jonah Hill play an adult role for once as Pitt's statistical assistant responsible for Pitt's entire team strategy. This is also one of Pitt's best roles and I would not be surprised at talks of an Oscar nomination. The writing by Aaron Sorkin definitely helped Pitt's performance. Several of the actors playing ballplayers has had baseball experience, which adds realism to their roles - especially as the team heads for the playoffs, although the film does not spend that much time in the ballpark.

I do not see why the movie is Rated PG-13. I do not recall any language and the only violence is when Pitt throws furniture around when he is angry. There are locker room scenes, but I do not recall anybody being really undressed. The rating kills an additional audience that would relate to Pitt's daughter Kerris Dorsey when Pitt is at home. The movie is over 2 hours, which makes the movie drag at the end of the film. A couple of scenes at the end of the film could have been deleted and made the movie tighter.

Rated PG-13. Running time: 133 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.