Official Synopsis
Based on a true story, sports agent JB Bernstein (Jon Hamm) finds that business has changed and things aren’t going well for his career. In a last ditch effort to save his livelihood he concocts a scheme to find baseball’s next great pitching ace. Hoping to find a young cricket pitcher he can turn into a major league baseball star, JB travels to India to produce a reality show competition called “The Million Dollar Arm.” With the help of cantankerous but eagle-eyed retired baseball scout Ray Poitevint (Alan Arkin), he discovers Dinesh (Madhur Mittal) and Rinku (Suraj Sharma), two young men who have no idea about playing baseball, yet have a knack for throwing a fastball. Hoping to sign them to major league contracts and make a quick buck, JB brings the boys home to America to train. While the Americans are definitely out of their element in India — the boys, who have never left their rural villages — are equally challenged when they come to the States. As the boys learn the finer points of baseball — JB, with the help of his charming friend Brenda (Lake Bell) — learns valuable life lessons about teamwork, commitment and what it means to be a family.
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It has been a while since I’ve seen a heartwarming film. Glad this one came by my desk.
Million Dollar Arm starts off as you might predict. JB Bernstein (Jon Hamm) is a struggling agent, who can’t keep up with the big agencies. He doesn’t have the size, glitz or budget to land the big boys, so he has to think outside the box for his business to survive. Late one night, JB springs forth a crazy idea to find a couple of pitchers from India’s cricket society to boost not only the MLB’s image, but his wallet and business longevity and relevance.
The film starts off well, as Bernstein’s situation is quite believable. We are introduced to his job engrossing life and his immediate struggle to stay above water. Hamm knocks it out of the park when it comes to portraying how stressful his character’s agent business has become. You could probably credit his Mad Men experience to seriousness that comes with Bernstein’s obsession to be relevant in a competitive business.
Anyway, the first part of the film establishes who Bernstein is, what his goal for the rest of the movie is going to be and, more importantly, what is at stake if he fails. It’s a small amount of time for a large amount of good drama, and surprisingly it is all done properly.
The story progresses and we find Bernstein over in India exploring all his options with cricket players. What’s great about this portion of the film is that the movie begins to show very different cultures. A more laid back India versus a money hungry man from America, who is fighting to keep his lifestyle alive (as well as his business). What’s better is that at this point in the film, Hamm’s Bernstein begins a slow, subtle change from his already established persona — especially when he finds his two cricket players. He begins to very slowly realize what it means to take responsibility for these young men while they’re away from their family.
You might be thinking at this point that all of this is happening way too quickly. A man like Bernstein, who is driven by all the wrong reasons, can’t possibly attach to these kids this quickly. You would be right and the story won’t allow for such a thing to happen so quickly, which is fantastic.
As soon as Bernstein hits American soil, he is back to his money-driven ways. He hooks the two cricket players up with USC baseball trainer, Tom House (Bill Paxton), who helps to get the boys’ pitching style and confidence together. Sadly, all is derailed, as the guys need/want Bernstein’s support, but can’t get it because he is off trying to land another client, whom he deems is more important.
The movie, while rightfully dramatic, becomes predictable at this point. Bernstein realizes that his path isn’t the path he thought he would choose and begins to right the wrong of his ways. You get a nice montage of the change, while you see Bernstein and his two new friends become closer and closer. Throw in a love interest in a house tenant named Brenda (Lake Bell) that is the point of the career derailment and redemption for Hamm’s Bernstein, and you have a fun film that plays it safe.
There’s nothing honestly wrong with a movie like this, though it doesn’t do anything exceptionally different when compared to films with this formulaic story. Does that make it bad? Not at all, it just doesn’t stand out. If you’re okay with that, and you want to have a fun story to watch on a Saturday evening, then Million Dollar Arm will work for you. It’s a good film that has some solid morals. Everyone in the movie does a superb job keeping it all together and everyone goes through the right motions to make it all work. In short, come for the acting, leave with a good story that doesn’t try to overachieve.
On the Blu-ray side of this release, this is a beautiful film. It looks pretty from the get-go and it’s the first film that I’ve seen of India that makes it look more than just another trash heap. I know that India has some environmental issues when it comes to pollution and trash, but Disney finds a way to make it look good. I appreciate the effort and it shines in HD. You get a lot of gorgeous colors from your blues, reds, yellows, whites and blacks. There is little to no graininess in the transfer and there isn’t any compression issues, even when you get some dark nighttime scenes involved. Disney is up there with Warner Brothers and Lionsgate when it comes to transferring movies to HD and Million Dollar Arm is no exception. It’s a gorgeous Blu-ray film.
As for the audio, you get it comes to you in DTS-HD 5.1 and the film aspect ratio is 2.39:1.
Finally, the features are as follows:
– Making-of Featurettes:
o Training Camp
o Their Story
o Million Dollar Music by A.R. Rahman
– Alternate Ending
– Deleted Scenes:
o “JB’s Problem”
o “Sold”
o “I’d Take Ten Dollars”
– Outtakes
This is an excellent amount of support material that gives you a little bit more insight about this ‘based on a true story’ movie. It fills in some blanks and adds more depth to the overall story. I wish they had kept the alternate ending in the film, as it did give you a little bit more conclusion to Bernstein and his guys’ situation.
Overall, some solid features.