Moneyball and Aaron Sorkin

It was Aaron Sorkin's name on the screenplay ticket what did it. He of  The West Wing  & The Social Network  fame - I assumed  one liners would come thick and fast.

 Sadly, even Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) at his charming best (marred somewhat by his talking with his mouth full of bread all the way through or constantly spitting in cups-yeech) couldn't save this one dimensional, over long movie.
Okay, it had its moments. I did enjoy the mechanics around the picking of the team, using Jonah Hill's (Peter Brand) unorthodox mathematical formula to project how low priced baseball players with particular skills might perform and from that, forming a winning team of underdogs.
But the pace was not snappy or engaging enough to keep me from wishing Pitt would just get on with it. And judging by the squirming in the seats behind me by three twenty something men and the very audible sound of jaws yawning, I wasn't alone in my opinion.

                                             
I will give Aaron Sorkin the benefit of the doubt - he was sharing the screenwriting job with  Steven Zaillian which may have curbed the injection of wit.

Here's a quote from Sorkin, showing that even someone with his breadth of talent can have self-doubt:   


I love writing but hate starting. The page is awfully white and it says, "You may have fooled some of the people some of the time but those days are over, giftless. I'm not your agent and I'm not your mommy, I'm a white piece of paper, you wanna dance with me?" and I really, really don't.