The Dean of Cinema

Written by Dean Zarbaugh II

What are you really worth? The story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball team on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.

“How can you not be romantic about baseball?” It’s a great quote, and honestly, how could you not be romantic about baseball? You see something new every time you go to the ballpark and perhaps even see something that will never be seen again. Moneyball takes that approach to both the sport that it’s based around and cinema in general. It is a celebration of both film and baseball. If you don’t leave the theater feeling romantic about cinema then you’re likely a dead robot inside, and not one of the cool robots that calls balls and strikes these days.

I’ve been a baseball fan since I was 6 years old when I made my first trip to Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1992 with my dad. It was a memorable game for me because it was a couple months after a tornado tore down nearly every house on our street, including our own. The game was a gift from my dad as a way to take my mind off losing all my earthly possessions. As an extra treat, after the game I got to go into the locker room with my dad and meet players like Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga, Albert “don’t call me Joey” Belle, and the entire team. Manager Mike Hargrove even let me sit at his desk. I got autographs from the entire team on a baseball and pictures with the players. When I needed heroes the most, Cleveland baseball stepped up to the plate. This cemented me as a die hard Cleveland baseball fan for life. I love listening to our radio announcer Tom Hamilton call the game. He’s one of the best play by play announcers to ever do it. His home run call is truly magical.

Ironically enough, Cleveland plays a role in Moneyball and it was great to see the city get some love even if they never filmed here. The Cleveland Guardians have been playing the game Moneyball style for decades. Cleveland isn’t a large market, and while the owners are the fifth richest in all of baseball, they refuse to spend money on retaining players, or going after top free agents. We have a great farm system and develop home grown talent. We regularly watch these players develop with us and then leave for the first big payday they can get. Thank God for the likes of José Ramirez, who took a hometown discount to stay where he’s loved and admired by fans. You don’t see that anymore. We are truly lucky to have him in a Cleveland uniform. We had our own Moneyball season in 2016, when we went to game 7 of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Ultimately, we lost and it was heartbreaking. However, the Cubs broke a 100 year championship drought. Like I said earlier, you see something new every time you go to the ballpark and perhaps even see something that will never be seen again. How many times are you going to watch a team break that long of a championship drought. With the Cubs win in 2016, the Cleveland Guardians now have the longest championship drought in baseball.

I love baseball movies almost as much as the sport itself. Field of Dreams, Bang the Drum Slowly, 42, Major League, Rookie of the Year, The Sandlot, Angels in the Outfield, Bad News Bears, A League of Their Own, I could go on and on and on all day. Moneyball ranks near the top of them all. It has everything you want in baseball cinema: drama, suspense, excitement and an uplifting story. It’s about one man’s love for the sport that he dedicated his life to and his desperation to move it into the next century. He sees that the sport is stuck in the past and refuses to get with the times. Forced to make things work on a shoestring budget, Beane starts playing the game on a spreadsheet, not the field. This flies in the face of decades of scouting and reporting, and obviously ruffles some feathers within the clubhouse. Beane is steadfast in his commitment to what he is doing, and while it seems like it will be a monumental failure at first, ends up sparking something within the clubhouse to do the impossible. It’s exhilarating watching the team realize in real time that they have what it takes to go all the way. The only thing holding them back is themselves.

Bennett Miller directs the film from a script by Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin has been one of my favorite writers since his days on The West Wing. Forgive all the baseball puns you’re about to read in this review. Sorkin knocks it out of the park with the script per usual. Hot off his Academy Award win for the superb script for The Social Network, Sorkin takes aim at much different, and more likable protagonist in Billy Beane. Once considered the next great baseball talent, his playing career fizzled out and now he finds himself as the general manager for the Oakland Athletics, a team he previously played for. It’s a story that can only be told through baseball. Sorkin brings his trademark dialogue patter, but with much less smarminess on the part of his characters. Unlike Mark Zuckerberg, Billy Beane is someone you genuinely root for. Sorkin gives the actors a lot to work with, and it comes off real and genuine conversations, not scripted dialogue.

The film looks incredible thanks to legendary cinematographer Wally Pfister. What else has he done, you ask? Oh, just some small films like Inception, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and the list goes on. I love the way they filmed the on the field scenes, oftentimes giving the player a bright spotlight, with the crowd shrouded in darkness around them. It’s just them and the audience. You’re zeroed in on the action and it feels like you’re right there on the field with them, in the moment. I love the luscious green on the field, and the colors of that California skyline.

Brad Pitt steps to the plate as Billy Beane, bringing his charm, and million dollar smile to the role. He might not have been my first choice for the role, but he knocks it out of the park bringing Billy Beane to life, aided by Sorkin’s gift for dialogue and great character development. You can see the anguish and heartache on his face when they lose and when his coaching staff openly defies him. He is quick to react to situations, something I tend to do myself and recognized that in Pitt’s portrayal of Beane. Tossing the chair, flipping his desk, repeating himself until he’s blue in the face. He’s a man with a goal, leading a team that at times doesn’t seem to want to be led. Pitt easily navigates Beane’s emotional swings and his growing frustration with his teammates.

Philip Seymour Hoffman crushes it as usual playing manager Art Howe, a man diametrically opposed to how Beane wants to run the team. He’s a manager on a one year contract, doing his best to make sure he’s hirable the following season. Hoffman brings an intensity to the role that captivates you. You never want to look away when he’s on screen. He was a master at saying so much with a look, or a sigh. It never seems like he’s “acting,” because he’s able to disappear into his roles.

Jonah Hill surprised me when I first saw Moneyball in theaters. I was shocked at how well he performed in scenes with heavyweights like Pitt, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. This role would launch him into acting in films opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. Hill would go on to receive Academy Award nominations for both Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street. Moneyball is probably my favorite performance of his alongside Superbad, which couldn’t be further apart from each other. I hope we get more performances like this from Hill in the future. He’s proven himself to be a solid utility man, able to slot in wherever you need to him to go.

Thanks to the terrific writing from Sorkin and the amazing direction from Bennett Miller, Moneyball breezes by. It keeps you engaged and when you walk away, you feel like you can do anything you set your mind to. It’s a wildly inspirational film that will make you fall in love with baseball and movies all over again. It’s a grand slam.

GRADE: A