Moneyball effectively tells the story of how Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane was able to field a highly competitive Major League baseball team with one of the sport's lowest payrolls. However, upon close examination neither the film nor its subject is quite as impressive as many people would have us believe. Still, it is a well-made movie which boasts some fine performances and very realistic baseball action. The Blu-ray disc also includes a solid array of extras,
Moneyball
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Year: 2011
Rated: PG-13
Program Length: 133 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080p
Languages: English, French 5.1 DTS-HD MA; Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital; English Audio Description Track
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
The Program
Moneyball effectively tells the story of how Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) was able to field a highly competitive Major League baseball team with one of the sport's lowest payrolls. However, upon close examination neither the film nor its subject is quite as impressive as many people would have us believe. Still, it is a well-made film which boasts some fine performances and very realistic baseball action. The Blu-ray disc also includes a solid array of extras.
As a youngster Billy Beane was a "can't miss" baseball prospect whose career flamed out after several undistinguished seasons. He became a scout for the Oakland A's and worked his way up to become the team's general manager. The A's made it to the American League playoffs in 2001 but were eliminated by the New York Yankees. Beane has to face the fact that he is about to lose several of his best players to free agency, and the team's owner makes it clear that that the general manager is going to have to build the team for the 2002 season with an austerity budget.
Beane is frustrated by ownership's unwillingness to give him more financial resources to work with, but he is equally frustrated by his "old school" scouting staff. The scouts, men who have worked in baseball for decades, seemingly rely upon gut instinct for evaluating talent. They even assess the confidence of prospects by rating how attractive their girlfriends are. Beane, who is keenly aware of how scouts overrated his own baseball skills, is becoming skeptical about the traditional approach. During the offseason he begins to visit other teams to see if he can swing some deals to get players to replace the stars he is losing. On a trip to Cleveland he observes that the general manager of the Indians seems to rely upon advice from Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a nerdy-looking young man who appears to be out of place in the front office of a baseball team. Beane is intrigued by Brand and seeks him out to question him about what he does for the Cleveland team (Brand, incidentally, is a composite character loosely based upon baseball executive Paul DePodesta, who did not want his name used in the film).
Brand is no athlete. He has a degree in Economics from Yale and he is a devotee of Bill James, the man who revolutionized the way fans look at statistics with his book, "The Bill James Baseball Abstract." Brand convinces Bean that the best way to evaluate talent is through the analysis of player statistics. By focusing on numbers such as how often a player gets on base, as opposed to batting average, it is possible to identify productive players who are undervalued by other teams and therefore can be signed at bargain prices.
Beane hires Brand and embraces his approach, but they face resistance from the field manager of the A's, Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Howe does not want to use the players who are brought in by Beane and Brand, and the 2002 season begins miserably. Before long fans and sportscasters are proclaiming the experiment a failure and Beane's future with the team seems to be in doubt.
Moneyball gets many of the small details about baseball correct, which greatly enhances the film's authenticity. However, baseball purists will rightly take issue with some of it. The one seasoned veteran on the team is outfielder David Justice (Stephen Bishop), who has won World Series championships with the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees but is now in the twilight of his career. Beane strikes up a conversation with Justice by the indoor batting cage and implores him to take a more active leadership role with the other players. Considerable emphasis is given to the fact that Beane is different from other general managers because he used to be a player, but in fact when Justice was with Atlanta he played for five seasons under a general manager who was an ex-player. It also is perplexing that after this scene Justice essentially disappears from the film.
The Oakland players generally get short shrift in Moneyball. Other than Justice, the only player we get to know reasonably well is catcher-turned-first baseman Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt). Moneyball is based upon a book by Michael Lewis which is subtitled "The Art of Winning an Unfair Game." Promotional materials for the film assert that Beane forever changed the way the game is played, which strikes me as hyperbole. Many baseball fans have rightfully pointed out that a decade later Beane's team is no closer to a World Series championship than it was in 2002, whereas big-spending teams such as New York and Boston continue to be perennial contenders. If Beane's methods have indeed changed the game, Moneyball fails to provide compelling evidence of it.
Those reservations aside, there is much to like about Moneyball. Brad Pitt is perfectly cast as Beane and he gives a convincing, understated performance. Jonah Hill, who is best-known for his work in comedies, is excellent as the antithesis of the typical evaluator of baseball talent. Philip Seymour Hoffman turns in another admirable performance as Oakland manager Art Howe. Also, it is not necessary to be a sports fan to appreciate Moneyball. Even though he has come up short, Billy Beane did overcome great obstacles to field a team which had a legitimate chance to win a championship. His willingness to try something new and his unswerving commitment to his beliefs is impressive.
The Video
This is yet another first-rate Blu-ray transfer from Sony. The 1.85:1 image is properly framed. The image is highly detailed, with accurate colors and solid contrast. Shadow detail is fine and black levels are excellent. The film effectively integrates archival footage where appropriate, and as noted the re-enacted baseball scenes are very realistic. There is no evidence of excessive digital processing and the Blu-ray presentation provides a highly pleasing film-like appearance.
The Audio
The lossless 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack is excellent. Dialogue is entirely clear and understandable. This is largely a dialogue-driven film, but the surround channels have an opportunity to come to life during the baseball scenes, which sound very realistic. This is not a spectacular soundtrack, but it is everything that it needs to be.
The Supplements
The single Blu-ray disc offers a number of interesting and entertaining extras.
"Billy Beane: Re-Inventing the Game" is a 16-minute featurette which includes comments from the real Billy Beane and author Michael Lewis. The featurette tries to make the case that baseball is still unfair to small-market teams because the well-heeled teams are now using many of the numbers-crunching techniques which were developed by the Oakland A's.
"Drafting the Team" is a fascinating 21-minute featurette which gives the leading actors ample opportunity to discuss their roles. In addition, it will come as no surprise to learn that most of actors who play members of the A's were themselves accomplished baseball players. Stephen Bishop, who plays David Justice, actually played ball with Justice for a time.
"Moneyball: Playing the Game" gives the filmmakers an opportunity to go into great detail about how the baseball scenes were constructed and filmed. Anyone who is interested in how films are made will be fascinated by it. It has a running time of approximately 19 minutes.
"Adapting Moneyball" features producer Rachael Horovitz and screenwriters Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian and Stan Chervin discussing the process of adapting Michael Lewis' book into a feature film. It runs for approximately 16 minutes.
There is a blooper segment which shows Brad Pitt laughing uncontrollably for about three minutes. Three extended deleted scenes also have been included.
Finally, there are previews of Jack and Jill, The Ides of March, Courageous, The Rum Diary, and Anonymous.
The Packaging
Moneyball comes in a standard Blu-ray keep case. Also available is a two-disc edition which includes the DVD and an UltraViolet digital copy.
The Final Analysis
Baseball fans who are not enamored with the praise which has been heaped upon Billy Beane will undoubtedly share my quibbles about Moneyball, but it is an entertaining and well-made film which will please most viewers. It also has a nice array of extras, is family-friendly, and has the potential for repeat showings.
Equipment used for this review:
Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player
Panasonic Viera TC-P46G15 Plasma display, calibrated to THX specifications by Gregg Loewen
Yamaha HTR-5890 THX Surround Receiver
BIC Acoustech speakers
Interconnects: Monster Cable
Release Date: January 10, 2012
