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, Robin Wright, Jonah Hill

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 29 wins & 75 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:

strategy | baseball | statistics | voice over | meeting | 

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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:

Official Facebook Sony Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Moneyball

Filming Locations:

Sony Pictures Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$19,501,302, 25 September 2011, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$75,605,492, 29 January 2012

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$110,206,216, 2 February 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, 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

Production of the movie was set to begin on June 22, 2009, but it was surprisingly dropped by Columbia Pictures. Studio co-chairman Amy Pascal axed the movie after objecting to changes which original director Steven Soderbergh made to Steven Zaillian's script.

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Goofs

On opening day in 2002, a giant check is presented with the date April 2. A's opening day in 2002 was actually April 1.

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Quotes

Billy Beane: I want Dye in right, Justice DHing, Peña on the bench, Hatteberg at first, and anyone but Mags first out of the pen.
Art Howe: You want Peña on the bench?
Billy Beane: That's right. So you can play Hatty.
Art Howe: Peña is not only the best first baseman on the roster, he's the only first baseman on the roster.
Billy Beane: Listen to me, Hatty gets on base more than Peña. In fact, twenty percent more.
Art Howe: And his fielding?
Billy Beane: His fielding does not matter.
Art Howe: I've heard enough of this.
Billy Beane: Have you?
Art Howe: And I, uh... I disagree with you, plain and simple. And...

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #20.103 (2012)

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Soundtracks

It Would Be Like This
Written by Mychael Danna

User Reviews

More than a game of numbers

It has long been said that professional sports are more a game of politics than an actual game. Major League Baseball is not just a game of money, but in "Moneyball" it's a game of numbers versus a game of people. It's callousness at its highest when general managers trade away people as if they're objects with little regard for them or their family. Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the GM of the Oakland As, seems to take that even further, treating people as if they are only numbers, and yet there was something refreshing and humanistic about the whole thing.

It's 2001 and Oakland has just lost to the New York Yankees in the playoffs, not surprising, seeing as their payroll was 76 Million dollars less. The humour of "Moneyball" starts in the off-season when the team can't afford to keep their top players and Beane and his experienced scouts start tossing around some free agent ideas. One guy is no good because he frequents strip clubs too often, another guy is no good because his girlfriend is ugly, and on down the list they go. But then Beane meets Yale-educated, economics-, mathematics-, and computer-whiz, baseball fan, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). He has no experience and he doesn't know these players. He doesn't know if they stand funny or if they swing ugly. He only knows their stats and their salary.

A lot of people took offense to Beane's approach of degrading players down to the sum total of their on-base percentage and runs-in potential. But I liked it. Since the game of baseball isn't changing any time soon and players will always just be elements that can help win games and make more money, why not view them as numbers rather than as people with ugly girlfriends? Like Peter Brand, I like numbers.

It's a movie about doing more with less, so I think we're just supposed to ignore the irony that they needed an excessively high budget to make it. In fact, it cost Sony Pictures more money to make this movie than it cost the Oakland A's to field their entire team for a season. Oh well, only one lesson for Hollywood at a time, and I still liked the movie.

For a movie about people trying to change the game of baseball, it's only fitting that they are changing the sports genre. This isn't about the team and how many games they're going to win. As in all cases, they win some and they lose some. And we really only meet one player, the rest are just names thrown in the air. The movie is about Billy Beane, a real person, and a multi-dimensional character. At first he realizes that he is going to have to play the game with more than just money, and then after he makes it about numbers too, he finds a balanced statistical and personal concept.

"Moneyball" says that the game is about money, but the movie is about people. Writer Aaron Sorkin knows how to write people, and as evidenced by "The Social Network" (2010), he also knows how to turn computer-programming into riveting cinema. We find humour in the least-expected of places, we find heart in the least-expected of people, and 'Moneyball" gives us a completely enjoyable movie that becomes so much more than numbers.