Moneyball 2011

Critics score:
94 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Starring Brad Pitt in top movie star form, it's a film that's impressive and surprising. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Like the A's themselves at this time, "Moneyball" has enough unlikely pieces that do work -- and it generates enough underdog goodwill -- to make you want to stick around for the final out. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: "Moneyball" reminds us, in case we needed reminding, why Brad Pitt is a movie star. Read more

Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies: Remember those old '30s musicals that generated sizzle out of backstage machinations, charismatic producers conning investors and starstruck unknowns hitting the big time? That's how Moneyball plays... Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: It gives Mr. Pitt, who hurtles through the movie, a chance to scat like a juiced-up Ella Fitzgerald, working his phones and seemingly every other general manager in the country, as he transforms a new baseball philosophy into action. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: A rousing success, an intelligent and propulsive piece of locker-room drama. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The movie doesn't quite come together, but it's full of smart, cynical talk, and it's very entertaining. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: A deeply American film about a uniquely American sport in which a principled guy takes on the moneyed titans because he can't stand the unfairness of what they're doing to the game he still loves. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: It seems absurd on its face to convert Lewis' tale of front-office wrangling into a sports movie, but Bennett Miller's shrewd adaptation, scripted by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, turns it into Major League for stats wonks. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Highly entertaining, especially for ballfans. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: On some level "Moneyball" is about loyalty: loyalty to an idea, loyalty to a partnership forged by desperation, loyalty to the values you believe in. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: "Moneyball'' is a hilarious and provocative change-up, entertaining without feeling the need to swing for the fences. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The real protagonist of Moneyball, however, is Beane himself, played with great charisma by Brad Pitt. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Everything in Beane's story and in "Moneyball" could've been rendered dull or sappy or both by a lesser director. It is, at heart, about a man out to redeem himself. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: [Pitt] provides ballast and a swaggering humor to a movie that, too often, strives to be The Social Network of baseball movies. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Smart, minor-key entertainment. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Pitt, who has a producing credit, is not the sole reason this tremendous -- yet intimate -- sports tale soars over the fences. The bench is deep. And the script has a powerful but finessed swing. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Moneyball turns an unlikely subject interesting, making a professional sport the nexus where past and future collide. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: [It] may be the first baseball film to tap into the thrill of strategizing - of manipulated cause and effect - as entertainingly as you'd expect from a movie about chess or a casino heist. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Though more abstract than most mainstream films, Moneyball is still a movie that should appeal to a broad audience. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: The movie does achieve something nearly impossible: Someone who doesn't even like the sport may care about Billy Beane and the 2002 Oakland Athletics. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: If you like baseball, you will love this movie. If you hate baseball, you will still love this movie. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Moneyball is a winner, one of the freshest and smartest sports movies in years. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: One of the most soulful of baseball movies -- it confronts the anguish of a very tough game. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A well-written, sharply acted film that's guaranteed to garner attention. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: To say that "Moneyball" is "inside baseball" is to undersell the idea of that sentence. This extraordinary hybrid of a movie lives and breathes the game, yet its achievement is bigger than that. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A crowd-pleasing baseball movie for people - like me - who don't like baseball movies. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: This is a subtle, elegant and altogether triumphant film about a subject I thought I was tired of, told with an artistry and freshness that is positively thrilling. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Don't be surprised to see Pitt in the best-actor Oscar race come the new year. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Moneyball illustrates what can happen when a non-fiction book that's more about ideas and processes is translated into a feature film. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Geek-stats book turned into a movie with a lot of heart. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A smart, intense and moving film that isn't so much about sports as about the war between intuition and statistics. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Moneyball is one of the best and most viscerally exciting films of the year. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Has to be described as an example of what Hollywood does best. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Naysayers have been claiming for years that the Moneyball book wouldn't work as a movie. But ultimately, it's the cinematic touches that keep this film version from becoming something exceptional. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: It's to the director's credit, and Pitt's, that Moneyball is anything but bloodless -- in its own quiet, unspectacular way, this movie courses with life. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Pitt's Beane is as original a character as I've seen in a baseball drama. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Although you don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy it, "Moneyball" is one of the best baseball movies imaginable. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Moneyball is exactly like moneyball -- infused with intelligence, amusing in its attacks on false gods, but way easier to admire than to love. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: A witty and captivating look at thinking outside the diamond. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: A solid, bustling social comedy at the 130-IQ level, Moneyball boasts the zinging, stinging repartee of grown men working at a kids' game and tired of being handed the prevailing line of bull. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: As an example of smarter-than-average Hollywood fare - and a sly dig at modern sporting politics - 'Moneyball' has all the key bases covered. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Pitt and Hill make Beane and Brand seem like the year's most intriguing couple, bringing deep shades of humour and pathos to their characters that help make Moneyball more than just another sports or baseball movie. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Baseball fans know this story, but Miller puts it all in fascinating context. This is a thinking person's baseball movie, a more complex version of the inspirational sports story. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Writers Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin resurrect the old adage "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game" to drive this uncannily sharp, penetrating look at how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane helped reinvent baseball. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: It really happened, it's really corny, and it's really great. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Like a cold beer under a bluebird sky; like a flawless line drive on a warm summer's day; like a long, languorous seventh-inning stretch - "Moneyball" satisfies. Read more