The movie that launched a million ill-informed pub conversations about your team’s transfer policies is now on Netflix
There are lots of great movies about sports: Rocky, Raging Bull, Friday Night Lights, Field of Dreams... And of course, the greatest of them all, the Goal! movies.
The best of them capture the passion and the ecstasy and the agony of playing (or watching) competitive sport.
What not many films do however is cover the actual business of top-level sports. The money, the behind-the-scenes dealings, which for better or worse make the whole thing go around. There are a few that touch on it – Any Give Sunday gets close, even is it is rather overblown and OTT; The Damned United does an admirable job, even if it is a world long since lost to time.
This is what makes Moneyball – which has just returned to Netflix UK – so great.
Moneyball sees Brad Pitt star as real-life Oakland Athletic baseball team manager Billy Beane, who when faced with limited budget and resources, went full-stato and used data and metrics to make his player selections, as opposed to the gut instinct previously used by basically every manager in every sport.
Did it work? Well, we’re not here to spoil the movie if you haven’t already seen it – but there is a reason that they made a film about Beane.
Moneyball was based on the non-fiction book by Michael Lewis (who also wrote The Big Short), and it weaves Beane’s story into a gripping thriller, bringing the seemingly dull baseball stats to life. Brad Pitt is supported by a cast that includes Jonah Hill, showing off his dramatic side in one of his first non-comedic roles, and the late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The script was also co-written by Aaron Sorkin, of The West Wing and The Social Network fame.
Just promise that after you watch it, you won’t claim to be some stats genius, ok?
