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Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt ... see more see more... , Stephen Bishop , Brent Jennings , Ken Medlock , Tammy Blanchard , Vyto Ruginis , Jack McGee , Nick Searcy , Glenn Morshower , Casey Bond , Nick Porrazzo , Kerris Dorsey , Arliss Howard , Reed Thompson , James Shanklin , Diane Behrens , Takayo Fischer , Derrin Ebert , Miguel Mendoza , Adrian Bellani , Tom Gamboa , Artie Harris , Barry Moss , Bob Bishop , George Vranau , Phil Pote , Art Ortiz , Royce Clayton , Marvin Horn , Brent Dohling

Based on a true story, Moneyball is a movie for anybody who has ever dreamed of taking on the system. Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's and the guy who assembles t... read more read more...he team, who has an epiphany: all of baseball's conventional wisdom is wrong. Forced to reinvent his team on a tight budget, Beane will have to outsmart the richer clubs. The onetime jock teams with Ivy League grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in an unlikely partnership, recruiting bargain players that the scouts call flawed, but all of whom have an ability to get on base, score runs, and win games. It's more than baseball, it's a revolution - one that challenges old school traditions and puts Beane in the crosshairs of those who say he's tearing out the heart and soul of the game. -- (C) Sony Pictures

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220 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 13 min.

Directed by: Bennett Miller

Release Date: September 23, 2011

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DVD Release Date: January 10, 2012

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Flixster Reviews (7,631)

  • SirPant
    May 21, 2012
    SirPant
    I'm not a sports fan and I have next to no knowledge or interest in Baseball. I really liked this film though, because what Bennett Miller, and no doubt Michael Lewis did in his book, was actually tap into something beyond just the sport and the passion for it. It's not all about... read more the money either, it's a new way of thinking and not just a challenge of the traditional way of thinking but it's also a statement to the old way of thinking. Put that into another context like religion and you'd kick up quite a lot of controversy. For many, Baseball is a religion, making it for fascinating viewing, especially as it is all a true story. Captivating stuff, bravely showing very little Baseball playing footage too.
  • blacksheepboy
    May 5, 2012
    blacksheepboy
    Brad Pitt is great in this smart drama that makes the most of the fact that it is a real story, with no need to turn to Hollywood contrivances or moral lessons - and it has its best moments when showing the offstage of baseball and discussing statistical strategies.
  • thmtsang
    March 24, 2012
    thmtsang
    I'm not into baseball but this is much more than the sport. Billy Beane former baseball player is General Manager of Oakland Athletics. His players get poached and he has very little budget. He employs an economics genius from Yale to help him target players. It is a ruthless gam... read moree as men get traded like baseball cards. Heart warming, feel good movie. Good cast.
  • mmckellop
    March 13, 2012
    mmckellop
    Moneyball wasn't one of the best movies of 2011. It's maybe one of the ten best but it ultimately deals in stakes that are negligible in our post-Recession reality and trucks in history so recent as render its major conflict moot. It's too smart to be a rabble rouser and too damn... read more sentimental to be the big statement movie it wants to be. Jonah Hill isn't as good as the Academy thought he was and Philip Seymour Hoffman isn't given nearly enough to do. Director Bennett Miller keeps the film as quiet and interior as possible and as a result the film is one of the least adrenalized sports movies ever made. But the point of Moneyball isn't to be a cheer from the back rows crowd pleaser. It's not about the tradition annihilating science of saber metrics or even baseball at all really. It's about what it is to be man in America and it's also Brad Pitt's finest hour.

    Pitt, too old to be the beautiful trickster of his youth but too young for the movies George Clooney makes, stars as Billy Beane, general manager for the Oakland A's and the living embodiment of why it's not always a good idea to go with your gut. Beane is trying to rebuild his champion level team while not having the money or juice to do so. He's the kind of man for which great things were expected but never came. He gets sneered out of the Cleveland ball club when he comes recruiting and has to fight much harder than he should to convince his daughter that he's not the loser everyone else tells her he is. He's under tremendous pressure and he takes out on his portable radio and whatever else isn't nailed down but he rarely raises his voice to anyone. He spends hours alone in his car trying to suck down all the anger and self-doubt and bury it under a wincing smile. He does what we all do to varying degrees of success which is to imitate the impossible image we all had of our fathers when we were thirteen. Pitt has never been as closed off as he is in Moneyball but he's also never been this clearly expressive. You're with him for every minute of the film like you're with every outfielder that missed a critical line drive.

    Bennett Miller pulls off the quite the magic trick with this film, perfectly capturing the feeling of baseball while showing as little of it as possible. Moneyball isn't a film vibrant green infields, searing flood lights and solemn glory of the game. He films everything at a distance, in slow motion with naturalistic lighting. Everything feels pastoral and subdued. Miller knows that baseball isn't a sport to be cut like a noise pop music video. It's a game of sustained silences and gradual reversal. Miller never allows the wave of good feeling that comes with a record breaking winning streak to wash over you but he does hammer home the sinking feeling that comes with watching an easy win turn into a fight for dear life. His is an unpretentious, humane style that's well suited for the material and with Moneyball Mille has made a masterpiece of withholding.

    There are no legends in Moneyball, just damaged, stoic men doing the best they can in a midrange ball club. Parks and Recreation's Chris Pratt stands out as a Scott Hatteberg, a pitcher who lost his arm and must adjust to life as a fight baseman. Pratt's character is a man who has been so devastated by the loss of his defining attribute that he barley trusts himself to breath. His overwhelming fear is fascinating as is Miller decision to keep his redemptive arc off screen. Stephen Bishop as former star outfielder David Justice is good as the film's Doubting Thomas. He distrusts Beane's radicalism and autocratic distance. When he and Pitt finally have their reckoning, Bishop shines by underplaying the scene. He never goes for the high note and the film is mature enough to allow him to be wrong and to keep his pride. Philip Seymour Hoffman is almost wasted as A's coach Art Howe, the closest the film comes to having a standard issue archetype. He resists the change Pitt wants to bring to team to the point of light mutiny. He represents the old way, the received wisdom of two hundred years of determining a man's worth by the way he carries himself and Hoffman is too good an actor to let his underwritten part define his performance. The film's script by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zillian, while not without its grace, shows its greatest weakness in it its inability to give the other side of the debate a solid argument. Jonah Hill, as a composite character nominally based former A's assistant GM and noted saber metrics practitioner Paul DePodesta, who's cast against type as a smart man who is neither bitterly angry nor cuttingly clever, is thoroughly dull since the only thing he can play convincingly is bitterly angry or cuttingly clever.

    Moneyball isn't ever going to be one of the greats. It's too cerebral and measured (as seen in its awkwardly assembled trailers) to build a cult around and too unabashedly romantic too be rallied around by critics. It's a movie of fine, deeply felt performances and unassuming weight. It's a film of almosts and never was and has more in common with a folk ballad than a stadium shaker. It's the kind of film to show your children if you want to show them while winning isn't everything, it's one of the most important things or if you want to give them a glimpse into what defined the American male persona in the early 21st century.
  • MrMarakai
    March 11, 2012
    MrMarakai
    A slow moving, dialogue driven Baseball film - that features very little actual Baseball - will almost certainly ostracise a large amount of viewers. However, this actually works on a surprisingly dramatic level from acclaimed stage director Bennett Miller.
    Based on the true sto... read morery of financially crippled baseball team, the Oakland Athletics and their general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), who tried to hold them all together. In order to make a winning team with no money, he had to change the sport. To do this, he enlisted the help of smart young analyst Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) and attempted to use a new formula of computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
    How this film manages to maintain your interest - with constant boardroom discussions and talk of Baseball statistics - is testament to everyone involved. Miller's direction is low-key, adding an almost documentary feel; Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin's screenplay is full of natural dialogue and Pitt's central performance is subtly brilliant. This doesn't rely on special effects - or even on the game itself that much - to entertain. It relies on a basic story well told. The formula of sports films are left far behind for this fly-on-the-wall approach to the business side of sport. There's no players pointing to the sky before knocking the ball out of the park: there's no clock ticking as the underdog tries to overcome the big-hitters. Well, in some cases you could say this happens. But it happens less on the park and more in the offices and boardrooms of the backroom staff. This inevitably leads to talking. Lots of talking. But thankfully, the cast are more than up for the challenge. Pitt (in an Oscar nominated turn) is an actor that has grown in the maturity of his recent roles and handles the difficult role of Billy Beane to perfection. The normally profane Jonah Hill (also Oscar nominated) is effectively reserved and even Philip Seymour Hoffman, in a vastly underwritten role, manages to speak a thousand words with his expressions alone. The only downside it had was it's over-length. At over two hours long, it's hard to maintain your concentration with a film that is primarily concerned with number crunching. However, most of the time does, surprisingly, fly by.
    An unconventional sports film that focuses on a side of the game that is rarely addressed. In our current financial climate, this has been released at just the right time.
  • fb1463751009
    March 10, 2012
    fb1463751009
    "Moneyball". The best sports movie I've seen in a very, very long time. In a genre that's plateaued due to the reliance of cliche's, "Moneyball" tells the other side of professional baseball that is both emotionally involving and engaging. Slow-mo final pitch to end the game? Not... read more found in "Moneyball". Cliche last timeout speech to draw the players' weak knees back to strength? Not found here. Yet in the end of the day, the movie carries the tension and satisfying freedom of joy many sports movies offer without being desperate to make audiences care.

    The success in "Moneyball" comes down to its finesse and intricate screenplay. Very well written. This is the most multilayered role Brad Pitt has had in a long time. You see his battles with his internal struggles through simple yet effective facial jerks and expressions. You see frustration and joy in what he does. Brad Pitt proves, once again, that he has earned his stardom through his great acting performance.

    "Moneyball" is a must watch. It may seem like a movie for only baseball enthusiasts but make no mistake, it is a highly engaging and entertaining movie for any person that enjoys drama.
  • sergioogarcia
    March 4, 2012
    sergioogarcia
    Brad Pitt nominated for an Oscar for this movie. Why I wouldn't see it? I like it very much. Even when I don't like baseball. Usually true story movies open your eyes wider than usual. Fantastic editing, story and charaters. But honestly, Brad has performed A LOT better in other ... read morefilms.
  • fb100000883534329
    March 1, 2012
    fb100000883534329
    This film was ok. I don't believe it deserved a nod for best picture but hey I'm not in the academy. My opinion is that this is narrowed in on a small demographic. If this film was made say 5 or 10 years from now, maybe it would have been a really big hit. I do like how it di... read moredn't follow the cliché of underdog wins the big game at the end. (Though some say that was it's undoing.) I loved the direction but felt the script jumped around too much. When I look at a film on how it was made I was thinking they made the part for Philip Seymour Hoffman so he could have a nomination for best supporting actor, BUT OH WAIT! I don't think even the makers of this film didn't know the talent they had in Jonah Hill. I've been given alot of crap for saying this but I feel Hill should have won for best supporting actor. I will admit I teared up at the end of this film but again I don't think it was worthy of the Best Pic nom.
  • MovieGeek13
    February 28, 2012
    MovieGeek13
    Sports fans love discussing player stats. They enjoy debating with each other every aspect of team management, player ability, and rank as if the only thing that's keeping them from being general managers and coaches is their will. But like everything else, politics drives sports... read more. Money speaks volumes. And few sports films have captured the backdoor dealings and struggles of managing a sports team with such authenticity as well as Bennett Miller's Moneyball.
    Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, a washed up baseball player who was scouted at a young age to be the next biggest name in baseball. It didn't work out, but his knowledge of the game landed him a job as the general manager for the Oakland Athletics, a struggling franchise with the lowest payroll in all of Major League Baseball. Pitt's performance here is subtle. He gives this character so much development, but because this is a movie mainly set in boardrooms and baseball dugouts, Pitt's added nuances are most likely to go over the audience's head. But that's supposed to happen because the movie wants you to identify with Billy's struggle to deliver a winning team against much opposition.
    Jonah Hill is Pitt's supporting man and this is quite possibly Hill's first non-comedic role. He plays Peter Brand, a young sports analyst who is developing a theory on evaluating players. This theory uses statistics and a bunch of mathematical algorithms to accurately reflect a player's ability to perform what is asked of him. Using these principles, Peter and Billy attempt to completely re-configure the Athletics, and in doing so, not only changed the way players' stats are read, but they delivered the Athletics to one of their best season performances in years.
    Moneyball will work best on sports fans and business people. The language and the dialogue reflect an atmosphere of discussions, thinking, analyzing, and meetings. It shows a side to the sport that is rarely captured in the movies. So many sports films are about the players and how they overcome obstacles to score the winning points and be holstered up to the many cheers by their fans and teammates. Yet Moneyball is about different kinds of people overcoming similar obstacles. The difference is that their hard work is rewarded with hand shakes and contract renewals, while the players enjoy the glory. Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillan have written a wonderful screenplay, Pitt and Jonah give wonderful performances alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright, and Bennett Miller delivers another great film. Moneyball is a solid home run.
  • fb1664868775
    February 27, 2012
    fb1664868775
    For sure the best film about baseball I've seen. Great performance from Brad Pitt but really the whole cast shines.

View All Moneyball Reviews

Critic Reviews

David Denby
September 27, 2011
David Denby, New Yorker

One of the most soulful of baseball movies -- it confronts the anguish of a very tough game. Full Review

J. R. Jones
September 23, 2011
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

The real protagonist of Moneyball, however, is Beane himself, played with great charisma by Brad Pitt. Full Review

Peter Rainer
September 23, 2011
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

[Pitt] provides ballast and a swaggering humor to a movie that, too often, strives to be The Social Network of baseball movies. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
September 23, 2011
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Pitt, who has a producing credit, is not the sole reason this tremendous -- yet intimate -- sports tale soars over the fences. The bench is deep. And the script has a powerful but finessed swing. Full Review

Tom Long
September 23, 2011
Tom Long, Detroit News

Moneyball turns an unlikely subject interesting, making a professional sport the nexus where past and future collide. Full Review

Rick Groen
September 23, 2011
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

Moneyball is exactly like moneyball -- infused with intelligence, amusing in its attacks on false gods, but way easier to admire than to love. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
September 23, 2011
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

A well-written, sharply acted film that's guaranteed to garner attention. Full Review

Peter Hartlaub
September 23, 2011
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

Naysayers have been claiming for years that the Moneyball book wouldn't work as a movie. But ultimately, it's the cinematic touches that keep this film version from becoming something exceptional. Full Review

Ann Hornaday
September 23, 2011
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Like a cold beer under a bluebird sky; like a flawless line drive on a warm summer's day; like a long, languorous seventh-inning stretch - "Moneyball" satisfies. Full Review

Lou Lumenick
September 23, 2011
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

A crowd-pleasing baseball movie for people - like me - who don't like baseball movies. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Matt Keough: Ugly girl friend means no confidence.
    • Scout Artie: I like Perez. He's got a classy swing, it's a real clean stroke.
    • Scout Barry: He can't hit the curve ball.
    • Scout Artie: Yeah, there's some work to be done, I'll admit that.
    • Scout Barry: Yeah, there is.
    • Scout Artie: But he's noticeable.
    • Matt Keough: And an ugly girlfriend.
    • Scout Barry: What does that mean?
    • Matt Keough: Ugly girl friend means no confidence.
    • Billy Beane: When you get the answer your looking for, ya hang up.
    • Billy Beane: We want you at first base.
    • Scott Hatteberg: But, I've always played catcher.
    • Billy Beane: It's not that hard, Scott. tell him, Wash.
    • Ron Washington: It's Incredibly hard.
    • Billy Beane: [Billy goes into room with players having fun and stops music] Is losing fun? Is losing FUN? [players reply no] Then why you're having fun for? [leaving the room angrily pushing a shelf]
    • Billy Beane: How can you not be romantic about baseball?
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