Movie Review: Million Dollar Arm
Jun. 12th, 2014 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23If you know me, I am a sucker for sports movies, which is why with everything in theaters, I am going to this film.
I am also a sucker for the sports movies that Disney churns out. You know most of these. They aren't out to illustrate a big point like Moneyball, they're there as good family fare.
So, knowing this, and admitting that yes, many of these flicks are a bit of a letdown, Arm is actually pretty good.
It helps that it's a story that even the biggest sports fans won't know the ins and outs of. It's not Secretariat or the 80s Olympic Hockey Team. It also probably helps that it's pretty much all true. There's not a lot of embellishment from the original story.
Of course, the main reason this movie succeeds is because of the cast. Jon Hamm is a more talented actor than most who might get cast in this role and he really helps the film. Lake Bell plays a standard quirky/smart/manic love interest in the Abby from NCIS/Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook standard mould, but really delivers.
Alan Arkin shows up and does Alan Arkin, but he's brilliant of course. Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi) and Madhur Mattal (Slumdog Millionaire) are perfect choices as well.
It's fairly standard stuff. Hamm as "Nice Guy Sports Agent". Sharma and Mattal as "Fish Out of Water"/Coming to America naive boys. but there is a lot to like here. Everyone is likeable and you get fairly invested in the characters. There are also some subtexts about 'chasing your dream' and what that means, and 'chasing money' (as opposed to 'chasing good') and what that means.
It is a really good movie that does go a bit longer than necessary (Could surely have been 90 minutes instead of 120), but it's nice to have good family fare that actually delivers in terms of acting and filmmaking.
Enjoyable
I am also a sucker for the sports movies that Disney churns out. You know most of these. They aren't out to illustrate a big point like Moneyball, they're there as good family fare.
So, knowing this, and admitting that yes, many of these flicks are a bit of a letdown, Arm is actually pretty good.
It helps that it's a story that even the biggest sports fans won't know the ins and outs of. It's not Secretariat or the 80s Olympic Hockey Team. It also probably helps that it's pretty much all true. There's not a lot of embellishment from the original story.
Of course, the main reason this movie succeeds is because of the cast. Jon Hamm is a more talented actor than most who might get cast in this role and he really helps the film. Lake Bell plays a standard quirky/smart/manic love interest in the Abby from NCIS/Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook standard mould, but really delivers.
Alan Arkin shows up and does Alan Arkin, but he's brilliant of course. Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi) and Madhur Mattal (Slumdog Millionaire) are perfect choices as well.
It's fairly standard stuff. Hamm as "Nice Guy Sports Agent". Sharma and Mattal as "Fish Out of Water"/Coming to America naive boys. but there is a lot to like here. Everyone is likeable and you get fairly invested in the characters. There are also some subtexts about 'chasing your dream' and what that means, and 'chasing money' (as opposed to 'chasing good') and what that means.
It is a really good movie that does go a bit longer than necessary (Could surely have been 90 minutes instead of 120), but it's nice to have good family fare that actually delivers in terms of acting and filmmaking.
Enjoyable
