Film Snail

6.7

Million Dollar Arm

PG·2014·124m

Drama

Summary

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.

Cast

Jon Hamm

J. B. Bernstein

Bill Paxton

Tom House

Lake Bell

Brenda Paauwe

Suraj Sharma

Rinku

Aasif Mandvi

Ash Vasudevan

Madhur Mittal

Dinesh

Pitobash

Amit

Alan Arkin

Ray Arkin

Bar Paly

Lisette

Al Sapienza

Pete

Tzi Ma

Chang

Allyn Rachel

Theresa

Ravi Naidu

Indian Reporter

Gabriela Lopez

Hot Girl

Tanner Anderson

Basketball Player (uncredited)

Tom Verducci

Scout

Brett Zimmerman

Mark

Andrew Benator

Hotel Manager

Crew

Director

Craig Gillespie

Screenplay

Tom McCarthy

Reviews

r96sk

November 13, 2020

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.