Moneyball

Billy Beane is the General Manager for the Oakland A's.  Faced with having lost his best players and having no money to buy new ones, he sets out to change the game.  With the help of a young economics graduate he tries to put together a championship team by buying runs, not players.

This was based on a true story and it's about Sports so already it has everything going for it.  What I wasn't expecting was the fact that this movie is truly character driven, it is not a comedy.  Keep that in mind if you find it running a tad long.

I absolutely loved this.  The cast was perfect.  Brad Pitt, the Robert Redford clone, was incredible.  Jonah Hill, is able to reign in his over the top awkwardness just enough, that you truly believe he is a bean counter.  Not to mention Phillip Seymour Hoffman, so impressive, even more so that he took such a small role and really ran with it.

Rocky, Rudy, Miracle, The Natural, Hoosiers, A League of their Own,  all some of my all time favorites. This could be up there. I don't want to reveal too much, but I will say this,  the ending, which baseball fans are all too familiar with, makes this story all the more great.

*** 1/2 Oscar Buzz


Rated PG-13 (for language)