Moneyball

Bennett Miller’s (director of the excellent Capote) adaptation of Michael Lewis’s excellent book, Moneyball (2011), was a fairly standard type of adaptation. It added some elements and expanded certain aspects of the main character Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) in order to create a sympathetic lead character. This includes creating a father daughter relationship that portrays him as more vulnerable and sympathetic. However, the dynamic between Beane and his assistant (Jonah Hill) is more of the key to he film in how they were fighting against baseball conventions to find a way to win with out having the capital of big market teams like the New York Yankees. The highlight occurs during the 2003 season after losing three of their top stars the newly rebuilt team has a record 20 game winning streak before losing in the playoffs again. The film works well enough, but I can’t help wondering what the film would have looked like if Steven Soderbergh, who was originally slated to direct the film, had seen the project through to the end.