Most sports movies thrive on audiences rooting for the underdog who fights with heart and fighting spirit against an obviously much better opponent. This is also the case with “The Art of Winning – Moneyball”. The story of David vs. However, Goliath is told in such a completely different way that you don’t even have to be a fan to be fascinated and emotionally involved. This is made easier for us by the excellent performances of megastar Brad Pitt and his colleagues Jonah Hill (“21 Jump Street”), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Magnolia”), Robin Wright (“House Of Cards”) and Marvel hero Chris Pratt (“Guardians Of The Galaxy”).
“The Art of Winning – Moneyball” can be seen on ZDF Neo today, July 20, 2023 at 11 p.m. If that’s too late for you on a Thursday, you can currently stream the movie anytime as part of your Netflix subscription. You can of course get it as (4K) Blu-ray, DVD or paid video-on-demand:
Based on real events and people, the drama was directed by Bennett Miller (“Capote”), who stayed true to the genre of the extraordinary sports biopic with the follow-up “Foxcatcher.” The Academy Award-nominated screenplay, written by Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”) and Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”), is based on the best-selling non-fiction book Moneyball: The Art Of Winning An Unfair Game. Among other things, the author Michael Lewis wrote the template for “The Big Short”. The book is also available in English in Germany:
“The Art of Winning – Moneyball” on ZDF Neo: that’s the story
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the general manager of the premier baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, and as such has been through some tough times. In the fall of 2001, he faced a particularly difficult task: the contracts of his best players were all expiring, and the stars signed with bigger clubs that could pay them considerably more for their services.
Nevertheless, in the new season, Beane must of course try to keep up with the rich mega teams with his relatively small budget. In his need, he enlists as his assistant the young and rather unsportsmanlike Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a university graduate in economics and a real math and statistics nerd.
To the dismay of head coach Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his old-fashioned scouts, Beane completes a complete overhaul of the team. For this he has his new employee bring dozens of cheap players from the province who have no experience at the highest level. According to a formula developed by Brand, they exactly meet the requirements to – at least in theory – still play for the championship…
One of the best sports movies ever
A movie about statistics in a sport that is wildly unpopular in this country should have a hard time captivating its audience. But “The Art of Winning – Moneyball” is exciting and fascinating right from the start. That depends less on the subject than on the characters and their actors. The screenplay and staging show Billy Beane, who was never able to reach his full potential as a player, as a wonderfully complex person.
Brad Pitt then breathes a lot of life and soul into it with his withdrawn, but extremely effective game. Less with words, but more with looks and attitude, the superstar does everything right here. On the one hand, he shows us the enormous pressure the character is under, but also his unconditional will to take his own path to success.
Just as wonderfully crafted are the characters of Jonah Hills and Philip Seymour Hoffman – both scripted and executed. Thanks to them, there is so much dynamism in the story that the sparingly used sports scenes are really only necessary to give them a background. In our excellent four and a half star FILMSTARTS review, we call “The Art of Winning – Moneyball” one of the greatest sports movies of all time and an absolute must, even for baseball haters.
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