A Wholesome, Feel-Good “Million Dollar Arm”
By Skip Sheffield
“Million Dollar Arm” is a rather fantastic feel-good,
wholesome sports movie that is actually based in fact.
In 2008 a sports agent named J.B. Bernstein went to India in
search of athletes who might have the million-dollar pitching arm of the title.
The movie, directed by Craig Gillespie (“Fright Night”) and
written by Thomas McCarthy (“Up”) stars Jon Hamm as the Bernstein character,
known as JB.
Hamm is best-known as Don Draper in the hit TV series “Mad
Men.” The always-reliable Alan Arkin plays old-time baseball scout Ray
Poitevint.
The shallow, materialistic JB is on the spot because he has
lost a star player because to a rival agency because he could not afford a
million-dollar bonus the player is offered. In truth JB is near bankruptcy and
desperate.
That’s when he hatches the seemingly wacky plan to go to
India and hold open tryouts for anyone who might be good at baseball. He brings along his business partner Aash
(Aasif Mandvi) and sleepy Ray, who is so good at judging a baseball’s speed he
can determine it with his eyes closed.
Cricket is the national sport of India, but Ray detects
native pitching ability in Rinku (Suraj Sharma of “Slumdog Millionaire”) and
Dinesh (Madhur Mittal of “Life of Pi”).
So begins a fish-out-of-water, clash-of-cultures underdog
tale of two young Indian men plucked from poverty in their native country and
plopped into JB’s posh bachelor pad in Los Angeles. The boys are under an
impossible deadline to get good enough, training at USC with their doubtful
coach (Bill Paxton), to impress major league coaches.
Lake Bell plays Brenda JB’s smart, pretty med school tenant
and potential love interest. It’s one of those scenarios where you know selfish
JB will fall for the virtuous Brenda and be the better man for it.
There are no surprises in “Million Dollar Arm,” and as we
said, it is based on the true story of Rinku Singh and Dinetel, who are now professional
baseball players in the USA. Stick around to the very end of this two-hour Walt
Disney film and you will see the real-life boys and the man who discovered
them.
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