Moneyball review

 Number 720 on the top 1000 films of all time is the biographical sports drama 'Moneyball.'

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team. After a disappointing season, and with a minimal budget, he is on a mission to rebuild a bigger and better team. He enlists the help of Yale economics graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who uses special formulae to determine the best players to buy. This puts Beane in conflict with the other scouts and head coach Art Howe (Philipp Seymour Hoffman.)

Some critics have said that Moneyball is an enjoyable film even if you're not a baseball fan. I am a Brit, so I am most definitely not a baseball fan. Yet, I didn't enjoy Moneyball at all. But, of course, that's because I wasn't interested in the content rather than any fault of director Bennett Miller. The film held no importance or meaning to me. I didn't really understand what the characters were talking about.

Billy Beane used to be a baseball player himself. But after years of under-performing, he goes into management. He is haunted by his past failures which is revisited in odd flashbacks. This was supposed to flesh out his character, but I don't think enough time was spent on it to be effective.

I much preferred the quieter scenes where we see Billy trying to establish a connection with his estranged daughter Casey particularly when they're in a guitar shop and she sings The Show. This was very touching. I wish we had more scenes like this.

The actual performances weren't anything special either. Philip Seymour Hoffman was highly underused. While Jonah Hill's performance earned him a best supporting actor nod, I'm not sure whether his performance really merited it.

If you're a baseball fan, you'll probably love this film. And if you're not like me, you'll think it's a 153 minute snoozefest.