Moneyball (2011)

Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.

Director:

Bennett Miller

Writers:

Steven Zaillian (screenplay), Aaron Sorkin (screenplay),

Stars:

Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 19 wins & 42 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brad Pitt	...	Billy Beane
Jonah Hill	...	Peter Brand
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Art Howe
Robin Wright	...	Sharon
Chris Pratt	...	Scott Hatteberg
Stephen Bishop	...	David Justice
Reed Diamond	...	Mark Shapiro
Brent Jennings	...	Ron Washington
Ken Medlock	...	Grady Fuson
Tammy Blanchard	...	Elizabeth Hatteberg
Jack McGee	...	John Poloni
Vyto Ruginis	...	Pittaro
Nick Searcy	...	Matt Keough
Glenn Morshower	...	Ron Hopkins
Casey Bond	...	Chad Bradford

Storyline

Oakland A's GM Billy Beane is handicapped with the lowest salary constraint in baseball. If he ever wants to win the World Series, Billy must find a competitive advantage. Billy is about to turn baseball on its ear when he uses statistical data to analyze and place value on the players he picks for the team.

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Plot Keywords:

baseball | manager | one word title | slow motion | business | 

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Taglines:

What are you really worth?

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

El juego de la fortuna

Filming Locations:

Blair Field, Recreation Park - 4700 E. 10th Street, Long Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$19,501,302 (USA) (23 September 2011)

Gross:

$75,605,492 (USA) (27 January 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions, Michael De Luca Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bill James, noted as the statistical influence for the main characters' analysis, is regarded by many to be the father of sabermetrics. This study of advanced baseball statistics is named after the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), an organization to which James and other sabermetrics pioneers belong. The film puts a heavy emphasis upon on-base percentage (OBP), though concepts like on-base-plus-slugging-percentage (OPS), now a widely-accepted measure of a player's hitting ability, are not mentioned. Concepts like runs created (RBIs plus runs scored), ERA+ and others widely used by statisticians are also not mentioned, perhaps owing to their increased acceptance in the years since the events portrayed in the film.

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Goofs

When Peter is flashing through all the players in his database, one player passing by is seen wearing a Toronto Blue Jays hat with the 2004 logo.

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Quotes

Billy Beane: Where you from, Pete?
Peter Brand: Maryland.
Billy Beane: Where'd you go to school?
Peter Brand: Yale. I went to Yale.
Billy Beane: What'd you study?
Peter Brand: Economics. I studied economics.
Billy Beane: Yale, economics, and baseball. You're funny, Pete.

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Connections

References 2004 World Series (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Don't Stop Believin'"
Written by Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry (as Stephen R. Perry), and Neal Schon
Performed by Journey
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Baseball by the numbers

Moneyball tells the story of the 2002 season of the Oakland Athletics, a team that rose to notoriety because of its low payroll and unorthodox player selection. Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), a former player turned general manage, grows tired with the ancient, inefficient ways of the game he has committed his entire life to. When a transaction goes awry he stumbles across Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a Yale, economics graduate who believes he has a system to rating players based on numbers.

Billy and Peter begin trading, signing, and grooming the team based on data, not scouting, something that other members of the team are not fond of, including Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the team's manager. Billy and Peter's system defies current baseball logic, but when the club starts to win games with players like Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt), David Justice (Stephen Bishop), and Chad Bradford (Casey Bond), the eyes of the country turn to Oakland, where only seeing is believing.

What happened in Oakland back in '02 was incredible. It shouldn't have happened if you ask the right people, and other people will tell you it means nothing. Well, it did mean something it has changed the way people think about the game for good. You couldn't just go out and look at a kid to see if he would be a star or not. There were more stats to consider than home runs, strikeouts, and batting average. The game was expanding and becoming more and more a battle of logic.

The film's structure is centered mostly on Billy Beane, but the most exciting parts for me were about the system. Writer Aaron Sorkin, who a few months back accepted a slew of awards for his screenplay The Social Network, tosses out jargon that baseball fanatics go crazy for. For the general audience, that's where Billy helps out. Peter explains the system and has to break it down more for Beane (i.e. the audience) so everybody on screen and in the seats is on the same page.

Pitt's portrayal of Beane won me over. He completely caught me off guard. I know Pitt can act but I remember him for performances that were very complex on the outside. Aldo Raine (Inglourious Basterds) with his pronounces chin, squinty eyes, and thick accent. Benjamin Button (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) who grew younger as he got older. Jeffrey Goines (12 Monkeys) who couldn't sit still let alone focus on one subject in a conversation. Yes, he was nominated for all these performances, but in a performance like this there is something bubbling under the surface. All of his characters to an extent have something going on underneath, only this character, Billy Beane, is so normal and calm on the outside, yet when he is alone we can see pain and frustration.

His supporting cast of Hill, Hoffman, and the slew of ball players and colleagues, help turn this baseball team into the world of Oakland Athletics. Hill and Hoffman especially play perfect compliments to Pitt's sunny exterior. Hill is quiet, timid, and very smart. Hoffman is cold, weathered, and stubborn. Pitt is able to play off of both temperaments and make their scenes together pop off the screen.

The one thing that this movie has going for it is the lack of actual action on the diamond. There are some great scenes of actual baseball, one at bat by Hatteberg in particular struck a chord with me, but for the most part the action is behind the scenes. There is enough for a sports junkie to get their fix and enough drama and with Beane and his family to entice any average viewer into the theater. I can't think of many target groups that wouldn't find it interesting, except for children, due to language and complexity of some of the dialogue. All in all this is one movie that will please a lot of people, and more importantly a lot of different people, sort of like The Blind Side, only the movie is actually really good.