That isn't fair, but I really didn't like this movie because I read the book and Pitt completely dominated the film, where in reality Billy Beane did nothing close to what he was projected as doing. It was a much larger effort than Beane and Paul Dipodestro, who refused to have his name associated with the movie and is Paul Brand. The story is the 2002 Oakland A's and how they overcame losing Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen off of a great, young 2001 club who lost in the ALDS Game 5 to the Yankees (standard). It never gets mentioned the incredible pitching staff of Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Corey Lidle, Mark Mulder, and Aaron Harang, just the incredibly GRITTY veterans with high OBP's who helped them win. I get pissed off when you get fed bullshit in a movie even if it isn't a documentary. That team was pitching based, fuck everything else. They had a great bullpen anchored by a great finds in Corey Bradford (especially), but also Billy Koch, Jeff Tam, and Jim Mecir. No need to mention that at all, only Bradford got even a nod in the movie where he has an entire chapter devoted to him in the book. I hated the dramatization of Beane's role in giving pep talks and advice to players, along with Jonah Hill acting as Paul Dipodesto. Scott Hatteberg gets shit on for playing bad defense, yet yielded a .994 fielding percentage. Bottom line is the A's never made it past the first round of the playoffs, but they play the Moneyball concept to explain how the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series. Johnny Damon is a Moneyball money pit, but he was the starting centerfielder, as was former A Keith Foulke as the closer, that was what Moneyball gave them. That team won because nobody could beat Schilling, Pedro, and Lowe/Wakefield in a 7-game series and David Ortiz played out of his fucking mind in clutch moments. It wasn't they walked a shit-ton, or only had cheap, high OPS players. They paid a shit-load of money for great players + a few guys who had decent OBP's, but Kevin Millar, Gabe Kapler and Mark Bellhorn were certainly NOT the reason the Red Sox won the World Series.
Sorry, I couldn't judge this movie solely as a movie because I read the book. It totally got in the way, so I really can't give an accurate ranking, but here's what I thought.
6.2 out of 10. An attempt at a feel-good baseball movie that really just scratched the Moneyball surface. Really just a Brad Pitt vehicle with baseball and arrogance sprinkled in. See when it's free, so don't pay $10 FUCKING DOLLARS to be disappointed, per usual.
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