A film focusing on the sabermetrics would be horrible! Maybe a documentary, but not a feature film. At the cinema! Ugh! It's like saying you felt ripped off because
Pi wasn't just one man bashing out numbers on a calculator for 90 minutes.
It's an underdog film. Could have been the
Rocky of baseball movies (maybe there has been a
Rocky of baseball movies, I don't know. I only know this and
Field of Dreams), except not nearly enough was made of the underdog aspect. Some brief dialogue near the start about how the Yankees pay every player 6 trillion dollars a day, or whatever, whilst the A's players each day get a shiny penny and a kick in the balls.... and that's pretty much it so far as that storyline goes.
Saltine, I think, mentioned Pitts oral fixation. It really, really bugged me. Does the guy wait until he's on set to eat? Surely he can afford a burger or something on the way in?
There were plenty of elements here for a decent film, but none were fully exploited. The absent father thing, the underdog story, the modernity v traditionalism bit. I very much liked the flashbacks, though.
On a more positive note, I noticed the Clash and Joe Strummer posters in Beane's office around the halfway mark, which automatically scores any film points in my book. I can't hate anyone who tips their cap to Joe 'n' the boys.
I bloody love the Clash.
God bless 'em