Oscar 2012: Moneyball

Moneyball is a David and Goliath story. It is pitched this way from the start. The Yankees (Goliath) vs. the A’s (David). The A’s lose. End of story, right? Moneyball was one of my favorite books before it was pitched as a movie. My first thought when I heard they were going to do a movie was “How on Earth are they going to make a movie out of the book?”. Moneyball is a study about how paying attention to certain statistics can increase the wins your team gets. I admit I am a baseball nerd and this subject interested me enough to read the book. The movie’s style is similar to last year’s The Social Network. The two movies screenplays were written by Aaron Sorkin. Moneyball doesn’t rely on stunning visuals. There isn’t a lot of glitz and glamour. And with that being said, it does have Brad Pitt in it. Pitt commands his role in this film. Pitt is a Hollywood demigod at this stage in his career and can do almost anything he wants. It is a toned down performance, business-casual. It is what the role calls for, but I was surprised by his nomination for best actor. The A’s haven’t a world series since 1989 and Moneyball takes place long after that. The point made at the end of the movie is that, despite winning it all, was that the A’s changed the way baseball teams will be built. So, from this perspective, David doesn’t really lose at the end. A post-story to Moneyball is that the teams with the biggest payrolls have adapted to Moneyball strategies and have made the necessary adjustments to survive. The A’s have struggled with mediocrity for some years since the time highlighted in the movie. There is no doubt that the strategies employed by the A’s (and other teams at this time, arguably the Twins, as well) has changed the baseball landscape. Moneyball belongs on the best picture nominees list, if simly for the reason it is a movie that Hollywood doesn’t typically green light. It is a refreshingly, intelligent, entertaining movie that doesn’t play dumb for its audience, or attempt to pull any strings. While America loves winners, I believe it loves underdogs more. Moneyball is the underdog movie of the year.