Million Dollar Arm (2014)

A sports agent stages an unconventional recruitment strategy to get talented Indian cricket players to play Major League Baseball.

Director:

Craig Gillespie

Writer:

Tom McCarthy (screenplay) (as Thomas McCarthy)

Stars:

Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi, Alan Arkin

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jon Hamm	...	JB
Pitobash	...	Amit (Deepesh Solanki)
Suraj Sharma	...	Rinku
Madhur Mittal	...	Dinesh
Aasif Mandvi	...	Aash
Darshan Jariwala	...	Vivek
Lake Bell	...	Brenda
Alan Arkin	...	Ray
Bill Paxton	...	Tom House
Gregory Alan Williams	...	Doug
Allyn Rachel	...	Theresa
Tzi Ma	...	Chang
Rey Maualuga	...	Popo
Bar Paly	...	Lisette
Jaspaul Sandhu	...	Grumpy Guy

Storyline

In 2008, J. B. Bernstein is a sports agent who finds his business being seriously outplayed by his deep-pocketed competitors. Inspired by reality shows and Indian cricket games on TV, Bernstein gets the bold idea of finding cricket players in India and training them to become pro baseball players in America. After a long search, Bernstein finds two talented, but non-cricket playing, youths, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. Together, Berthstein takes his prospects to Los Angeles where they find mastering a new sport in a foreign land a daunting challenge. As these boys struggle amid an alien culture, Bernstein must find a way to make their dream come true. In doing, Bernstein finds a deeper humanity to his work with growing friendships he never expected to have.

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Plot Keywords:

baseball | india | based on true story | cricket the sport | sports agent | 

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Taglines:

From the producers of "Invincible" and "Miracle"

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language and some suggestive content

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bill Paxton plays Tom House who not only consulted on the film, but was a real Major League pitcher and coach. House is known for two things in his career: as a coach with the Texas Rangers, he helped Nolan Ryan through the end of his Hall of Fame career. As a young pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, he was in the bullpen when Hank Aaron hit the home run that broke Babe Ruth's all-time career home run record. House is seen on film catching Aaron's ball, and is then seen at home plate fighting his way through a crowd of people to present Aaron with the ball after he has jogged the bases.

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Goofs

When JB introduces the Indians to pizza, the pizza is definitely from Papa John's, as evidenced by the pizza delivery guy's uniform and the pizza boxes. However, when Rinku is grabbing the last slice of pizza from the box, he is grabbing a slice of New York-style (thin-crust) pizza. Papa John's only serves thick-crust pizza, not thin-crust.

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Quotes

JB: [referring to Cricket] It looks like an insane asylum opened up and all the inmates were allowed to play.

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Crazy Credits

The CGI Disney castle opening has Indian music instead of the usual "When you wish upon a star" refrain.

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Connections

Features Britain's Got Talent: 2009: Auditions 1 (2009)

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Soundtracks

Ringa Ringa
Written by A.R. Rahman, Raqueeb Alam (as Raquib Alam)
Performed by A.R. Rahman, Alka Yagnik, and Ila Arun
Courtesy of Interscope Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Courtesy of Tseries

User Reviews

All I can say is that this film makes me proud to be an Indian!

Regardless of how people say the film was a Disney Film, predictable, etc, unaware of this true story, all I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Being an Indian student in America, the film connected me to my culture in India. The background music, the sentiment, and the portrayal of Indian traditions made me feel nostalgic of how I miss my home back in India. All I can say is that watching this movie made me feel like I was in India enjoying this experience with Rinku and Dinesh! The music was excellent. AR Rahman killing it as usual! Suraj Sharma has a bright acting future and Amit looked very cute. Excellent film! Go India!

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hindi

Release Date:

16 May 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Million Dollar Arm

Filming Locations:

India

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,515,659, 18 May 2014

Gross USA:

$36,457,627

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$38,483,455

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Roth Films, Mayhem Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1