Pitt and company hit a home run with "Moneyball"

Director: Bennett Miller

Time: 2 hours 6 minutes

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman

Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill star in "Moneyball", an introspective look into the life of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane and his quest to field a championship baseball team with his very tight budget. Smart, quirky and captivating, the film will keep your attention from beginning to end.

After being eliminated in the ALCS championship game and losing star first baseman Jason Giambi to the Yankees, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) must go back to the drawing board and figure out how to replace the holes in his roster and still remain within his very small budget. While teams like the Yankees have budgets that more than double the budget of the A's, Beane must still find a player or two to fill the voids left.

When Ivy League graduate Peter Brand introduces Beane to a mathematical system to help evaluate statistics, Beane jumps on board and picks up bargain players who excel at doing the fundamental things that are missing from his squad. Will this innovative way of analyzing statistics and generating wins by hedging percentages revolutionize the way scouts evaluate players, or will Beane and his team fall into obscurity?

Personally, I think baseball is boring. However, the film is not just about the passion in baseball -- it is about intuition and sticking up for what you believe in. Also, there is something to be said about the relationship between Beane and Brand. The two come from completely different worlds and yet their shared love for baseball helps build an inseparable bond for the two.

The acting is strong and the story is captivating (and true). A film like "Moneyball" needs little else to be worthy of praise.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

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