Moneyball

I recently saw Moneyball staring Brad Pitt. As a result of the movie's title and the main actor's name, I keep wanting to call it Money Pit, but that is an old Tom Hanks movie. Anyway, I'm glad I saw Moneyball because it is a good movie.

It is based on a true story about Billy Beane who is the manager of the Oakland A's and his struggle to build a winning baseball team and compete against professional clubs that had much more money and talent at their disposal.

Brad Pitt was great and all the performances were good, but I'm wondering why Robin Wright gets top billing with Pitt if she is only in the movie for a total of 2 minutes. Hats off to her agent. I liked Jonah Hill's performance, but I was really surprised with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I didn't even recognize him for a few minutes as the fat, old coach. I like him in everything I've ever seen him in. It was also strange and kind of distracting seeing Chris Pratt in a serious role. I'm used to seeing him as an incompetent shoe shine boy in Parks and Recreation.

Moneyball is a well told story. It is kind of slow paced and is not over the top like many sports movies. I felt it was a motivating movie, but I felt kind of bad for Pitt's character. He came across as being tormented and just didn't ever seem satisfied or happy. I kind of wish it could have ended like an episode of CHIPS with a freeze frame of him smiling. I give Moneyball 7.8 stars, and by the way, it is much better than The Money Pit.