Moneyball review

I like to use the term “football movie” to describe a film that is just supposed to be fun. An actual “football movie” is just that; it’s a sports film with not a lot of substance to it, just good, clean movie fun. These in no way have to be sports films, but that’s why I gave them the name. Most sports films are this way: not much depth, with actors playing sports stars, battling against the odds. The underdog story is huge in these “football films. “We can beat the bad guys!” (i.e. the other team.) This is what I was hoping for when I rented Moneyball.

I think Moneyball is a case of skewed expectations. I thought it was going to be an inspirational, fun “ football movie” without much depth. Let’s say it did not meet those expectations. Moneyball is not really inspirational, nor fun, with too much depth. Is this really what we want from out sports films? I feel conflicted; I wanted awesome fun, and instead I got real life sports intrigue. This film is very well made and has good actors in it, but besides the occasional bit of cleverness, it’s pretty boring for the most part.

When I saw that this movie was nominated for Best Picture, all I could think of was “why?” Does being a boring film about sports make you Oscar worthy? The actors are for the most part good, but they really don’t have the blow-away performance that I would expect form a movie nominated for Best Picture. Their performances seem flat and you never really feel for the characters. It is a good film, but no way deserves the Best Picture nod. You never get too deep into the characters’ motivations, or spend to much time getting to them. I think they spend too much time getting to the point. It’s based on a true story, so maybe they just did they best they could with the material they have.
I could be coming at this all wrong - I was looking for fun and got interesting. the concepts they bring up are interesting. But not enough to get me to watch it again, or think it’s worth a recommendation. This film brings to mind Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday. That film was awful, and is in no way comparable to this film, except one. A sports film that is serious, and real, is not as exciting as actually watching baseball.

The Rating System
Production (Directing, Editing, Music) 3-5
Story (Plot) 3-5
Characters (Likability, Acting) 4-5
Writing (Dialogue, Cleverness) 4-5
Emotions (Was it: Fun, Scary, Sad, Do I care) 2-5
Overall Score 16-25