Moneyball (2011)

What better time to see “Moneyball” than now? World Series! Baseball is in its glory, when even the folks who don’t care a whiff about RBIs suddenly start paying attention to the diamond drama. And this is a solid out of left field drama that avoids the tired comedy antics of “Major League” and focuses solely inside the back offices. (That said, this is no “Bull Durham.” But what sports film is?)

It's 2001 and Oakland Athletics’ GM Billy Beane is coming off a post-season crushing by the Yankees. His top players bolted for greener pastures, money –wise and location-wise. He needs replacements. STAT. But his recruiting budget is a third of the Yankees’. So, how the hell can Beane compete? That’s the gist of “Moneyball,” where Beane – played by Brad Pitt in a powerfully understated Everyman tone – goes against the biblical rules of baseball scouts, and instead relies on the “get on Base” mantra of one Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), an economics geek. If you know baseball, you know the rest. The As start the season awful, with a piss-ant coach (Philip Seymour-Hoffman, head shaved and crusty) ruining the lineup. Beane must take control.

Co-written by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zallian, “Moneyball” is about any passion or business – pizza-making, movie-making, banking or professional sport – steam-rolled by Big Money, all the joy and unknowns crushed under consumer surveys and greed. The baseball scenes are almost beside the point as Beane never watches the games. That said, the tumults of an imploded 11-0 lead make for damn fine filmmaking by director Bennet Miller, who made “Capote.” Yeah, the ending goes long in the bottom of the ninth, but it is painless.

I cannot say enough how much I dug Pitt’s performance, and Hill is brilliant, who knew? What an amazing, quiet, smart performance he gives. Bravo, sir! The camaraderie between the two men is often awkwardly funny, including a scene where Beane teaches Brand how to fire players -- guys twice Brand’s size and who carry bats. The dialogue, as expected from Zallian and Sorkin, pops like a fly ball that never comes down. A-