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September 23, 2011

At the Movies: 'Moneyball' good, but not a home run

By CHRISTY LEMIRE
AP Movie Critic

You don't have to know about VORP — or WHIP, or OPS — to enjoy “Moneyball,” the story of how a bunch of stat geeks changed the way baseball teams assess and acquire players.

MONEYBALL

Director: Bennett Miller

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Rating: PG-13

Running time: 126 minutes

Sure, it helps if you're a fan of the sport and if you've read Michael Lewis' breezy and engaging best-seller “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.” Sabermetrics — the process of applying statistical formulas, rather than on-field appearance and general makeup, to determine a player's worth — wouldn't seem like an inherently cinematic topic. But Lewis made lesser-known guys like Scott Hatteberg and Chad Bradford leap off the page. And the cajoling patter from Billy Beane, the Oakland A's general manager who pioneered this experimental philosophy, would seem tailor-made for screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who co-wrote the script along with fellow veteran scribe Steven Zaillian.


 
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