So apparently Major League Baseball has become the latest company to start outsourcing our jobs to India… typical
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“Million Dollar Arm” stars Jon Hamm as a struggling sports agent whose idea to stage a contest to find baseball talent in India turns out to bring him more than he bargained for both professionally and personally. It’s another venture into heartfelt sports story land by Disney who appears to have this type of movie down to a science by this point. Brought to you by the same folks who brought us “The Rookie” and “Miracle” it’s clear they are following a pretty well defined pattern by this point. And really, why not?
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I mean, it works. One of the reasons for this, in fact maybe the primary reason, is that they are actual true stories. Though I’m sure some of the details are tweaked for dramatic purposes you still get the sense that they honor the essence of what made the story so powerful in the first place. By the time the credits role and you see the real life participants in photos and video, you already feel like you know them and it brings home the emotion in a really deep way. Of course that emotion would be pointless if you didn’t connect with these stories, and that’s the other part Disney just keeps getting right, the human aspect. Though on their surface these movies are about interesting sports stories, at their core they are about the way we treat each other as human beings. As our lead character comes to grips with the way he treats people we come to understand something really valuable about ourselves as well. And if all that sounds a little too schmaltzy for you, well maybe it is, but there still might be enough humor to draw you in anyway, not to mention the actually ins and outs of the story are pretty compelling themselves. Of course, its hard to go wrong when you have Alan Arkin and Bill Paxton giving such great supporting performances, and their contributions are certainly a large role in the reason this movie works. But my favorite thing about this movie? I actually would say the music. I loved it. The Indian/Bollywood feel to this soundtrack is one of my favorites of the year and comes at just the right time, cause I’ve really been overplaying the Frozen soundtrack and it’s time to Let it Go.. So this will give me something else to play. So what doesn’t work about Million Dollar Arm?
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Well, I already mentioned that this formulaic approach might feel tired or syrupy to many but even more than that it gives the whole endeavor a TV movie feel as opposed to the big screen. There’s just a limited nature to the scope of a movie like this that makes this an easy one to miss in theaters and instead pick up when it finally hits redbox here in a couple months. Honestly, maybe some of that is Jon Hamm, who though not awful by any stretch, gives a very basic performance that would feel right at home on the small screen. The other thing that drags it down a bit, and lets tag it the worst thing, is that the cookie cutter nature of the formula makes for an experience with very few surprises. We know exactly where the plot is going and we are never shocked to see it get there.
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Overall “Million Dollar Arm” is a predictable and formulaic movie from Disney. But at the end of the day, just because you know what pitch is coming, doesn’t mean it doesn’t get the job done. Some fun performances and a real insight into our shared humanity, along with a genuinely interesting true story zoom this one over the center of the plate for a B+.
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