Hundreds of sports films, hundreds of them. Pretty sure Hollywood has tackled every type of sport, including Baseball several times over. Why should this one be any different? Well, this is the true story of the Oakland Athletics to which their General Manager at the time used a new technique of deciding a team: the Moneyball model. Using statistics and logic to pick the most effective players at the cheapest price, therefore building the ultimate economical team. Such a model could change the Baseball industry and negate years of traditional intuition. This is not so much about changing Baseball, but a personal journey for Billy Beane. He himself was chosen to play professionally, ditching his chances of further education. It didn't work out, and so he desired to change the system and defy the industry as a personal vendetta against them. Completely unconventional, having a computer system pick the most suitable players as opposed to listening to veterans who have something that algorithms do not: experience. Thoroughly enjoyed this film, and I can say I have no interest in Baseball (not particularly huge in the UK). A screenplay by Aaron Sorkin was destined to keep me captivated. Every script he writes is filled with sharp, concise dialogue that keeps you hooked on the characters. Brad Pitt looked effortlessly natural, owned every scene he was in. Jonah Hill...get ready guys...I actually liked. Finally!? A film I like him in. Cool, calm and calculated, was perfect at playing a graduate economist. Bennett Miller's direction was clean with a great mixture of old footage of Baseball games with the reconstructed acting. There's a scene towards the end where the result of a game relies on Chris Pratt hitting the ball. When he does...silence. I felt the tingles, was beautifully executed. Whilst the sport of Baseball does not interest me in the slightest, I loved the focus on the team building and thought it was brilliantly acted by everyone.

I have to admit that Moneyball is one unique baseball film. Usually films are about players like Lou Gehrig, Grover Cleveland Alexander, or Dizzy Dean to name three of the most successful players that successful films were made about. But our protagonist/hero is Billy Beane here, a general manager who in his own way adopted a revolutionary approach to baseball that some consider as significant as Branch Rickey inventing the farm system.

Beane is played here by Brad Pitt and he was a journeyman player who was given a scouting job in the Oakland Athletics organization which was the last team he played for. Beane gradually rose through the ranks and was now general manager at the turn of this century. What to do in the way of competing in this day of free agency with teams who have fabulously wealthy and spending owners like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the American League.

The answer comes from Jonah Hill who Pitt hires away from the Cleveland Indians organization and the key is on base percentage. However you get on base, hit, walk, error, hit by pitch or the occasional passed ball by a catcher, you're on and in a position to score. No flashy hitters with huge contracts in the Beane system, just get on base and get moved around.

Of course on screen it works and the Oakland Athletics enjoy a sprint of success in the last decade. But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and now a lot of teams are copying the Athletics.

I could critique the system, but this is for movie reviews not a sports writer's column. And the film is a tribute to two men and the system they fashioned. Brad Pitt the visionary general manager and Jonah Hill the bean counter statistician who is an integral part of the success.

Moneyball is unfortunately not a film that who are not sports fans or even baseball fans only can really appreciate. Still that's a wide selection of viewers it can relate to. It received six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for Brad Pitt and Best Supporting Actor for Jonah Hill. There's a nice performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman as field manager Art Howe. Hoffman's range continually amazes. You can hardly believe this is the same man who also got an Oscar for playing Truman Capote. He disappears into roles better than any other actor since Paul Muni.

A film for baseball fans, but that's a large audience pilgrim.

I would sure think that "Moneyball" would have a very limited international appeal--especially in countries where they don't have professional baseball. And, even in the States, I can't see this as being an easy sell if the audience member is not a fan of the sport. While I have enjoyed some ball films, I am not a huge fan of pro sports--so keep this in mind when I say how underwhelmed I was by the whole thing. Much of this also is because the film has been nominated for six Academy Awards--one for Best Picture, one for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor. So, I expected a lot and the film seemed to deliver less.

This film is based on the real life general manager of the Oakland A's back in the early 2000s. He came up with a statistical system by which he was able to replace big-money free agents with lesser players and STILL win--all by applying a lot of statistical analyses. For fans of fantasy baseball, this will be of some interest. As for me, I just didn't care--mostly because with the huge salaries, teams that move at the drop of a hat and various scandals, pro sports lost me as a fan long ago--and I just didn't care who won or lost. Now IF Brad Pitt's character had seemed like a particularly compelling person, I might have cared...but he didn't.

Overall, unless you are a big sports film fan, don't see the film or at least significantly lower your expectations. Pitt's and Jonah Hill's performances weren't bad...but both have done better work.