World's Latest Movie Review of Moneyball

As a long-time Oakland A’s fan I was very nervous to see Moneyball. So nervous, in fact, that I waited over year to see it. It wasn’t until a homemade DVD fell into my lap recently that I actually sat down to watch it. Boy, am I glad I did. I thought it was Hollywood where it should have been and baseball where it needed to be.
Ever since I read the book (4 years after it was written) there were rumors circulating about Brad Pitt producing Moneyball: The major motion picture. My apprehension to see the movie started with those early rumors and you could really boil it all down to two main thoughts:
1) I know how the movie ends... and it hurt the first time I lived through it.
2) Movies rarely live up to the lofty standards of their best-selling print counterparts.

First let me address apprehension number 1. While the movie is bookended with historic footage of playoff disasters, the middle third focuses on a win streak for the ages. A win streak that featured multiple comebacks and walk-off hits by 2002’s eventual AL MVP, Miguel Tejada.
During one particularly dramatic scene Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) gives Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) the old Talladega Nights “If you ain’t first, you’re last” speech late in the 2002 season. Essentially admitting that without a championship, the consecutive wins record would be meaningless.
Before seeing the movie I might have agreed, but reliving August of 2002 all over again renewed my appreciation for that historic moment. Having grown up an A’s fan starting later in 90’s, that streak stands out as the greatest memory of my baseball fanhood.
I’m sure it would be great to reminisce a great win streak that led to a championship, like the 19 game win streak of the 1947 NY Yankees or the two 9-game win streaks that the ‘05-’06 Carolina Hurricanes experienced on their way to a Stanley Cup, but what can you do? The film version helped remind me that while the great Athletics teams of the early 2000’s all ended their seasons with losses, the streak (which also jumpstarted their race to a Division crown) was something special. The film was able to do that in a way the book could not - using live action highlights.
As for apprehension numero dos, Hollywood actually may have improved upon the storyline of the book a little bit. The key departures made in the screenplay really helped walk fans through the toils of running a Major League Baseball franchise. The fact that Peter Brand was an composite character didn’t affect me in the least (actually, the scene when Billy meets/hires Peter was one of my favorite scenes in the movie, even if that wasn’t how it “really” happened).
And so what Philip Seymour Hoffman portrayed Art Howe as a cock-sure, gruff old manager, when in reality he was probably more like PSH’s role in The Big Lebowski. I also enjoyed seeing the story of Billy Beane’s flameout career develop throughout the movie as apposed to crammed into the opening chapter of the book.
In conclusion, I gave Moneyball a rating of 3 Strikes and 1 Ball. It had all the good qualities and characters a great sports movie needs. And while the rag-tag team doesn’t win the big game (come to think of it, Moneyball is a lot more like Bad News Bears than I thought), I still came away from the movie with fond memories. The only pitch to miss the plate for me was Billy’s family dynamic, but Hollywood’s got to do what Hollywood’s got to do, I guess.

Next up in the series of World's Latest Movie Reviews - The Blind Side. Stay tuned.