Sometimes to win, you have to change the game.
2014-05-09
$25.0M
124 min
In a last-ditch effort to save his career, sports agent JB Bernstein dreams up a wild game plan to find Major League Baseball’s next great pitcher from a pool of cricket players in India. He soon discovers two young men who can throw a fastball but know nothing about the game of baseball. Or America. It’s an incredible and touching journey that will change them all — especially JB, who learns valuable lessons about teamwork, commitment and family.
I can't say there is anything overly noteworthy about <em>'Million Dollar Arm'</em>. but it's well paced and features a great (true) story - it makes for a very enjoyable 124 minutes.
Jon Hamm is a good choice to play lead character JB, he does carry the film with his performance. There are other pleasant performances though, Pitobash Tripathy (Amit) stands out most from those behind Hamm. Bill Paxton (Tom), Lake Bell (Brenda), Suraj Sharma (Rinku) and Madhur Mittal (Dinesh) merit props too.
It's a feel-good premise, one that is rather nice to see play out. The score is solid, as is the cinematography. It's a positive that they spend a decent chunk of the film actually in India, I had a inkling they might've skipped it but thankfully they do not - they tell the story well. It's probably Disneyfied in ways, but who cares.
It isn't anything necessarily special, but I certainly thoroughly enjoyed this. Recommended.
