Moneyball (2011) - Originally Written January 11, 2012

Moneyball (2011)

Watching the Movie: 

Kind of a disorganized mess if you aren't a major sports, business, or statistics nerd. For most who are 0-3 in the above, the lone draw of appeal is how seriously you can invest yourself in Billy Beane and his situation fortunately Brad Pitt's usual charm make that really REALLY easy; as does his really incredible chemistry with Jonah Hill as Peter Brandt/Paul DiPodesta. 
 

Screening the Film: 

Some really cool images about business management in general and the decisions that are involved in overseeing an operation. As a reflection of a historical context (remember, the season in question is 2002), it falls short only because NOBODY was texting in 2002; the world was still on dial-up and just starting to get DSL and cable, and Sorkin really wrote more than a few SNAFU's with his anachronisms. However, for anyone who is looking for images of team building, team leadership and team synergy; Moneyball is an absolute gold mine.
 

The bottom line: 

I love this film, the movie is pretty good too. It overstays its welcome by about 10-15 minutes; but this is the one time where that is fairly forgivable given the amount of ground to cover. It's definitely in the top 10 sports films ever made, possibly in the top 5; but it's far from a masterpiece; so the best I can do in good conscience is 
 

4 out of 5.

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