Moneyball

As of this writing, we're about a month away from Major League spring training. That means everyone's going to be trying to figure out who the next big name will be. Some do it with their gut. Brad Pitt does it with a computer algorithm and the fat kid from Super Bad.

Click the link to find out if his strategy worked...


PREMISE

Brad Pitt plays the GM of the Oakland A's during their 2002 season. The A's are doing terribly. Their top three players have just been bought by bigger teams, and Brad Pitt is stuck with a roomful of old farts who are intent on finding players who can replace those top sluggers.

Of course, the A's have champagne taste and water pockets. While most teams are paying in the millions for their players, Brad is trying to grab players for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mmm-mmm. Lunchtime in the clubhouse.

During a trade meeting, Brad snags a new GM assistant, Jonah Hill, the fat kid from Superbad. This kid is fresh out of Harvard, and he's a whiz with numbers. Using a mathematical formula, Brad and Jonah start looking for players who can just scrape by to get them into the playoffs. This formula is the same one George Lucas apparently uses to decided how he's going to ruin our childhood memories.

Let's see. Monday: Ruin Willow. Tuesday: Rub money on my neck.

There's friction between the managers of the team over this new style of drafting, but halfway through the season it seems the team is starting to show promise. Could it be that this "crazy hippie" formula actually works? If the A's win the World Series, it could change the way people put together baseball teams. If not, Brad will just have to go back to working as the most gorgeous man in the world.

People would kill for him.

MY TAKE

As far as sports movies go, this one focuses less on playing the game, and more on the business side. In that regard, if you're just looking for the next Major League, you'll be disappointed. If you're at all interested in how a team works, or of you like watching Brad Pitt put things in his mouth, you may love this movie, because Pitt, for some reason, eats all the time.

There's also some excellent acting. We don't have to suffer too much with actors playing famous athletes. And the icing on the cake...? They threw in the always-welcome meeting with a fat coach.

"I done done what I done fer a reason."

FINAL SCORE- Four plastic cups of over-priced stadium beer.