Review: Moneyball

This is the first of two Moneyball reviews we’ve published. The second, which gets into the baseball nitty-gritty, can be read here.

– Now up to bat. Kenneth Turan, suckered in by the story, believing that the Mickey Mantle epigraph celebrates profuuuuuuuuuuuuuundity but really is more of a marketing gimmick that fools you into believing that It is Important.

– Well, Jack, I’m not sure you’re being fair towards Turan. Every time he gets on the plate, his eyes just widen at middlebrow pitches.

– But, Phil, did you see the way Turan immediately fell for the hook about this being “a famously troubled production.” And that crack about Pitt “who must have had a sense of how good a role this was for him.” Did he just cut and paste the press notes?

– I wouldn’t know, Jack. The movie started late and Sony was confiscating everybody’s cell phones as if they were criminal thugs.

– Sounds like you’re a bit bitter.

– Well, yeah. But I had also seen a rather amazing film that day called Le Havre. And, well, Moneyball paled by comparison. Have you seen it, Jack?

– No, Phil. I don’t do subtitles.

– Your loss, Jack.

– You know, now that you mention it, I’m not sure how much Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar win for Capote has to do with his role in the movie.

– “Letter-perfect,” Turan wrote before the last pitch.

– Looks like the copyediting umpire is throwing signals.

– I still don’t think Turan stands for anything.

– You’re right about that. Four balls, two strikes. Looks like they’re going to walk Turan. And there he is! Throwing the bat, doing his little strut.

– Is he actually trying to job?

– I guess so. He’s got a jolly little roll in his belly. It looks like he’s been eating hot meals, Phil.

– Middlebrow critics often do. Now heading for the plate: Manohla Dargis, whipping out that Tennyson in the lede.

– You know, that’s a very impressive move.

– Baseball is poetry!

– But a hungry heart? And why the hyperlink? Didn’t the New York Times figger its readers would recognize “Ulysses” by the two words alone?

– They probably think sports fans are dumb or something.

– “Liquid physical grace and bright eyes of a predator.” That’s some serious description, but is it poetry?

– You can’t talk about Brad Pitt without considering how he looks soooooooooooooo much like Redford.

– You mean they’re grooming him to take over when Redford croaks?

– Could be.

– Who’s on Sundance?

– What’s at Telluride?

– I don’t know is at Toronto.

– That’s right. You know, like Turan, she’s really paying attention to the titles that are flashing on the screen.

– You mean the numbers?

– I mean the numbers. Did you really think this movie was exuberant?

– Well, after a while, I got bored.

– Why’s that?

– It seems condescending to reduce the complexities of baseball down to two distinct visions.

– Strike for Dargis.

– Yeah, she’s not hitting well this season.

– Cut her some slack. There’s the New York Film Festival too.

– Sure. But two distinct visions. Here’s a movie that suggests it’s either all about hard statistics or all about the love of the game. And, really, was the Michael Lewis book that cut and dry?

– No. Strike!

– Well with Turan on first and the home team down a few runs…

– Can I just stay that I love the way Manohla goes to the trouble of saying that Billy has a great face. After that whole business of “liquid physical grace.”

– Do you think she wants to fuck Brad Pitt?

– Hey, who doesn’t? But does Brad Pitt’s handsomeness have anything to do with the movie?

– Not really.

– Can they really put it up there with The Social Network?

– Same producer. Sorkin wrote some of it.

– You see, that’s just it. The script seems to be a bastard hybrid of Steven Zallian’s heartfelt stuff.

– Brad Pitt’s kid? That song she sings?

– That silly song she sings. And Sorkin’s robust moralizing. It just doesn’t feel right. It should have been either one or the other.

– Oh, come on, have some sympathy for the Hollywood machine.

– It’s difficult. I can’t. These movies can be so much smarter.

– Dargis swings. And…….misses.

– First out for the home team.

– And to think that Sony handpicked the right critics for this. Do you think this stands a chance of winning Best Picture?

– One word. Crash.

– And who doesn’t like baseball?

– There’s that book from Chad Harbach.

– You’re not one of those readers, are you?

– No. Not really.

– Good. We’re supposed to keep the skepticism at a minimum.

– Why is that?

– Well, it’s good form! Because they might not invite us to additional screenings.

– One more thing about Manohla. I loved the way she tried to read significance in the American flags, trying to find a symbol.

– They are a symbol. We do that for every game.

– No, a September 11th symbol. Isn’t that a bit reaching?

– Well, what do you expect from Manohla? Now batting: Richard Corliss!

– He’s swinging wild.

– Well, he’s dealing with a funny pitcher.

– Not funny. Statistically proven to gain the approval of critics too calcified to rock the boat.

– I love how Corliss praised “the star’s administrative strategies.”

– It’s a paean to Big Business!

– “A solid, bustling social comedy at the 130-IQ level?” Were you laughing much?

– No. I mean, I liked Jonah Hill.

– He’s funny.

– Jonah Hill is funny. But in this he’s actually quite good in a dramatic role.

– So does the presence of Jonah Hill turn this into a “bustling social comedy?”

– Not really.

– You gotta give Corliss this. Love the way he commends Bennett Miller for including scenes of Billy driving at night.

– Cutaways.

– Smashing things up.

– A lot of movies have that.

– Working out in the team gym.

– Come on, when you’ve got Pitt’s muscles?

– But do you think he’s overpraising the movie for these shots? I mean, there was a time when all movies had these shots.

– Maybe that’s why he’s so excited.

– 130-IQ level? What does he mean by that?

– It means this film is just short of genius.

– Is Bull Durham or Major League at the 130-IQ level?

– They don’t have number crunching.

– But you’re still rooting for the success of the team? I mean, by Corliss’s standards…

– The Bad News Bears is at the 130-IQ level.

– The original or the Linklater remake?

– Let’s not talk about the remake.

– “The central pairing, though, has championship stuff.”

– How so?

– Because it gives Corliss an excuse to make another Social Network comparison.

– Beane and Brand are the Winklevoss twins?

– Hey, if you stare really hard, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill are kinda identical.

– Do you think “a walk is as good as a hit” is debatable?

– I don’t know. We just announce it.

– He’s out!

– What’s Corliss’s batting average these days?

– Don’t ask.

– Do we have a team?

– We do. And they’ll do anything the manager says.

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