6.5/10

Disney’s latest attempt at the sports world is one that gives us a lot of great innings, but can’t quite complete the full game. Jon Hamm Stars as JB Bernstein, a sports agent who is broke due to a lack of clientel. He comes up with a great idea to tap into India to find the next big bankable star after watching a cricket game. This is based on the true story of Rinku and Dinesh who became pitchers for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That however is not the most interesting part of the story, it’s their struggle to adapt to a game they have never seen, and live in a land they have only dreamed about. Surhaj Sharmar and Madhur Mattal were great as the two ball players. They show the fear in their faces long before they ever even utter a single word. They have the perfect look of two kids who only have each other against a country that expects results quickly out of their sports athletes. The film itself has a typical Disney script with very little surprises. I am glad that aspect didn’t ruin the movie for me though. It’s the performances of Hamm, Alan Arkin and Bill Paxton that show the kind of fun that they had while working on this film. On top of it, we as an audience learn a lot about the way India views baseball. At first, the sports of baseball and cricket seem so similar, but there is a lot more to the psychology that Bernstein must learn along the way. Throwing a 90 MPH fastball is the easy part when it comes to what these kids are facing. For it being a Disney movie, it did take a lot of risks with alcohol, party life and even a little pillow talk. There are parts of this movie where it doesn’t always feel like Disney is dipping their finger in the Kool-Aid, and i appreciated that the most. It seems like they let Director Craig Gillespie make the movie he wanted to make. His shots are done very well with capturing the work of the players. I am not kidding when i say that some sports movies do not know how to shoot the action, and the shots almost spring too fast at times. That is not the case with Million Dollar Arm as there are a lot of beautiful, crisp shots that follow the ball perfectly. I only really had a couple problems with the movie and they are very small. The first is that we are shown Jon Hamm to be a pretty decent human being for the first half hour of the movie, but then without the flick of the light switch, becomes a bit of a jerk by the time the players come to America. I get that Bernstein is going through a lot of pressure as he is broke and quickly losing everything he has, but it just doesn’t feel like the character we have come to know. This is obviously added to create a storyline of him overcoming himself, but it’s not needed at all. Another problem i had was the chemistry between Bernstein and his good looking next door neighbor (Lake Bell). It’s is mentioned twice that these two never even talked before he left for India, but then a couple scenes into his time away we see them Skype chatting almost every night. This seems like a bit of a stretch for someone who didn’t give this woman the time of day. Is she stalking him? If so, that might be another movie Disney might consider exploring. Oh the possibilities. The movie also loses a little steam by the 3rd act as we have already been through every kind of emotional rollercoaster with these characters. We feel spent as a crowd with nothing more to give. The ending is satisfying, but predictable. It’s a bit of a shame that once you get through the journey of these players coming to America, you virtually have nothing else to experience. You know what is coming, and that is the true big weakness that Million Dollar Arm suffers from. Overall, it’s not a bad little film. It did manage to keep my attention considering i knew what was coming next. I would recommend it to sports movie fans. I don’t think it is as good as last month’s Draft Day, but it’s certainly a hell of a lot more believable. If you have an interest to see it, catch a matinee. Not quite worth the full price. Million Dollar Arm is a feel good tale, and it’s proud of it.