OK, maybe Keith Law didn't exactly pay to see the premiere of 'Moneyball', but the scouting analyst for ESPN.com was not impressed with Bennett Miller's adaptation of the 2003 book. Law tweeted a few quick thoughts on the film:
Wow. Moneyball is terrible.
Bad as in I wanted to walk out. RT @sixteendays: @keithlaw bad as in bad baseball film? Or bad as in bad full stop?
For a film that had received some high praise by various critics, it is interesting to see Law dislike the movie so much. It is important for everyone to remember that Law basically covers the MLB Draft and Minor Leagues for a living and he knows all of the ins and outs of the business. Imagine your job and what you have been doing for the last twenty years; would you necessarily want to watch a film based loosely on that?
In addition, Law is known to be pretty snarky with his demeanor and has been pretty critical of the movie since the day the cast was released. We definitely do not want to put words into his mouth, but it's almost as if the scout already had made up his mind on 'Moneyball' and thus never gave it a fair chance.
He expands a bit in his review from his website:
Moneyball, the movie, is an absolute mess of a film, the type of muddled end product you'd expect from a project that took several years and went through multiple writers and directors. Even good performances by a cast of big names and some clever makeup work couldn't save this movie, and if I hadnt been planning to review it, I would have walked out.
Perhaps the movie is disappointing, but with just about everyone else praising it at this time, Law's review should probably be taken with a grain of salt for the average viewer. Go see it.