Film File - Moneyball

Picture the scene: it's Manchester United, the aristocrats of the Premier League, playing in the FA Cup final against Plymouth Argyle, one of the lowest ranked teams in the entire English League. Brain and wallet says it has to be Man U, but what if Plymouth Argyle had found themselves an Alex Ferguson of their own, a man with such a sporting and financial brain to turn a bunch of unknown second-raters into a team with something special that scared the daylights out of everyone who lined out against them? 'Moneyball' roughly poses this scenario, but located in the American baseball leagues. Based on a true story and adapted from the Michael Lewis book, 'Moneyball' is a sports film that's about so much more than what happens out there on the field of play. It's about street smarts, loyalty and the joy of seeing the little guy triumph against all the odds. It is, in short, a great film for these dreary, dark days of winter. Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the 2002 Oakland Athletics baseball team who believes that all conventional wisdom about how to manage a team is wrong - and decides to completely upend the system from within. With little financial clout to call on, Beane, a former star player himself who never realised his full potential, decides to outsmart the richer clubs. His first move is to recruit Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in an unlikely partnership - think Brian Clough and Peter Taylor as the soccer equivalent - and begin recruiting bargain players overlooked by other clubs. Brand is an egghead statistician with an understanding of why baseball's norms of scouting and paying aren't working. Spotting jewels in the dust which are pulled together in a bargain basement team, Beane and Brand assemble a sporting machine that turns the accepted big money practices of the game on its head, much to the fury of big hitters like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Eventually delivering the 'As' a winning season despite having the lowest team payroll, Beane introduces statistics and mathematical analysis into player evaluation - a revolutionary move that enrages the game's traditionalists. More importantly, how are the As going to compete when, even if they do groom good talent, it immediately gets poached by big-market, big-money teams? Beane and Brand forge a whole new kind of ball game, a different way of looking at the sport and how an economically puny Goliath can slay a big bucks Samson. Author Michael Lewis, best known for business bestsellers like 'Liar's Poker', 'The Big Short' and last February's shattering 'Vanity Fair' article on Ireland's economic woes, was attracted to the story of Billy Beane for a variety of reasons - primarily how the under-funded As took on an unfair system of big-money and how a ragtag team of cast-offs got the chance to finally prove their potential. It's another version of the American Dream, the underdog who rises to greatness at the darkest hour. Challenging the accepted norm always provokes dangerous emotions, 'Moneyball' peers through the statistics to see the emotional cost behind great change, and how it affects the people who force it to happen. Directed by Bennett Miller and scripted by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillain - a seriously talented and award-winning trio - the film has a number of notable co-starring roles: Chris Pratt and Stephen Bishop as trusty batsmen, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the cranky coach Art Howe, an underused Robin Wright as Beane's wife and Kerris Dorsey as his daughter Casey. Key to the film's success is the glittering chemistry between Pitt and Hill - think Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall in 'The Damned United' - a combination of deadpan humour and all-American drive that works a treat in every scene they share. This is a winning film all round - for sports jocks and couples alike.