Just walked out of Moneyball a few minutes ago and couldn’t wait to give my review. I was pretty skeptical about seeing this at all and then I almost walked out during the opening credits. For those of you who have seen this movie you know why. I made myself sit there and take and I’m glad I did.
First off this movie is very well acted from top to bottom. So kudos to the casting director because you put a great crew together. Brad Pitt gives a phenomenal performance as Billy Beane. The surprising role to me was Art Howe. Phillip Seymour Hoffman did an amazing job playing the disgruntled manager of the Oakland A’s.
Secondly the story was solid. Many many things were left out from the book. To have it be otherwise would have made for a 8 hour movie so I was OK with that. The script really did a great job showing what internally was going on in the A’s organization during the 2002 season. It was all very interesting. The book was better but when is a movie ever better than the book.
The best part of the movie in my opinion was the issues between Howe and Beane. It made me understand why Beane always has his hand in the managerial cookie jar. I know Art Howe doesn’t like the way he came off in the movie but I honestly saw nothing negative about Howe’s portrayal. The skepticism Howe had in the film is probably what any coach would do in the same situation. I am sure the relationship was over dramatized for the movie but it probably wasn’t far off from the truth.
As a skeptic A’s fan going into this movie I was pleasantly surprised by it. I was also very proud of them not making it too happy of an ending. It does make me root for Beane a little more but I am sure that will wear off somewhere into midseason next year if the A’s are still struggling.
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