Moneyball: a husband’s prayers are answered
“Moneyball,” the new immensely entertaining film treatment of Michael Lewis’s best seller, answers many questions, not all of which have the least bit to do with baseball. In fact, I’d say that none of the questions it answers are about baseball at all, but rather about film, philosophy, and finally marriage. The first question, pretty obviously, is “how can you turn a nonfiction tome about baseball statistics, praised and influential as it may be, into a compelling film?”
The answer to the first question may also seem obvious: populate it with great, likeable actors, starting with Brad Pitt. As the film’s protagonist, A’s General manager Billy Beane, Pitt is on screen for 93 percent of the film (this figure is absolutely correct), and you’ll wonder why he wasn’t on screen for 97 percent. Jonah Hill (Superbad), Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation), and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (um, Boogie Nights?) round out the cast, packing the film with hilariously droll line readings, making it the funniest nonfiction novel/turned film since America’s Great Depression by Murray N. Rothbard was turned into “The Sting.”
A philosophical question the film poses and offers an answer to is “are statistics better than experience and intuition?” The answer “Moneyball” posits is “yes, they are.” A number of flashbacks throughout the film illustrate how Beane (Pitt) came to his new statistical baseball philosophy, showing how the old baseball approach to scouting and evaluating talent crushed his own dreams of playing in the big leagues. The flashback sequences give Beane’s story a solid emotional base, and make it likely to attract a female audience. . .
The final question “Moneyball” answers is simple, “How can I talk to my wife about baseball statistics?” When I saw the movie, the theater was packed, largely with older couples. And when flow charts of baseball statistics flashed on the screen, the theater was abuzz with whispering, from wives asking “what does OBP mean?” to husbands answering”. . . and it’s so important because-” such that I gave the couple behind me more than a few acid-tinged glances. So if you want to observe a crew of great actors making a very good script into a riotously entertaining film, think about think about the conflict of analysis vs. inspiration, or just talk to your wife about something you care about for once, “Moneyball is definitely the film for you.
3 1/2 stars
