TIFF: Macleans review

Moneyball Brad Pitt is having a remarkable year. First he plays the dark side of the American Dream in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes; now he switch-hits to the sunny side in Moneyball‘s amazing-but-true story of Billy Beane, a general manager who changed the face of major league baseball. Here, after a string of quirky, character roles, Pitt finally unleashes his natural wit and charisma in a role that soaks it up—he has the lustre of a latter-day Warren Beatty or Robert Redford. A movie star hitting his prime. But what makes the film really click is the hilarious odd-couple chemistry between Pitt and the deadpan Jonah Hill, cast as the nerdy Yale economist hired by Beane to build a winning strategy by number-crunching. Directed by Capote‘s Bennett Miller, this is one helluva good sports movie. Expect Pitt get an Oscar nomination.