Disney has cornered the market on “based on a true story” sports movies. Million Dollar Arm is their latest contribution to the genre that includes Cool Runnings, The Rookie and Remember the Titans, among others. Their patented studio recipe is evident: Combine a recognizable star with a likeable underdog, add an audience-pleasing goal to achieve, stir in a wise love interest and/or right-hand man, sprinkle in a dash of mild social commentary (optional), bake for 2 hours until the edges have melted off, and finally, serve to eager audiences and cynical film critics, the latter of whom will spit it out.
The trailer for Million Dollar Arm looked like a harbinger of doom. It practically tells you the entire movie, making it appear that a full viewing is unnecessary. It introduces us to JB (Jon Hamm), a sports agent having a Jerry Maguire-like crisis with his clients. Inspired by talent shows and cricket, JB creates a contest to recruit two of the fastest cricket bowlers to see if they can be converted to the first major league baseball pitchers from India. Clips of Mumbai and the Taj Mahal fly by, followed by questionable sequences of our brown heroes discovering elevators, curve balls and Lake Bell. Bill Paxton shows up looking concerned. Alan Arkin appears as the grumpy smartass he’s been playing for the last 20 years. There’s even a little inspirational rap song on the soundtrack as JB and his charges bond.
I wouldn’t fault you if, based on that, you thought this should have been called Bang the Slumdog Millionaire Slowly. I admit I was cynical too, despite being a sucker for sports films not named Rudy. Million Dollar Arm is formulaic, but it has some pleasant, unexpected surprises. Disney may have sanded off most of its sharp edges, but the few that remain are capable of drawing a little blood.
While Tom McCarthy’s script occasionally leans toward the dangerous notions of foreigners as “the mysterious Other,” it mostly treats the Indians JB brings to America as fleshed-out individuals with distinct personalities. The lucky players, Rinku (Shiraj Sharma) and Dinesh (Madhur Mittal), and their translator/manager Amit (Pitobash), are allowed to relate to one another as much as they are to their American benefactor. For much of the film, they speak with subtitles and are shown doing the normal routines they have brought from their homeland. Their Indian identities are neither overshadowed nor forgotten.
Also not forgotten is how much of a prick JB is. He’s a womanizer who only sleeps with supermodels, and will step on anyone to close the deal. Jon Hamm shows us JB’s charming side, but I was surprised at how long the movie allows him to be a horrible person. He is distant to Rinku and Dinesh, and at one point awfully mean to them. He pawns them off on baseball trainer Tom House (Bill Paxton) while he pursues Popo (Rey Maualuga), the bigshot football player who’s been dragging JB along with false promises of agent representation. JB is also a lousy landlord, treating his one renter with mild disdain because she’s not Heidi Klum. That renter, a med student named Brenda, is played by Lake Bell, the triple threat behind last year’s In a World. Brenda is both the audience stand-in and the romantic interest. As the former, she constantly points out JB’s numerous bad decisions; as the latter, her character is just too good for him. Their relationship gets a pass, because who can resist Don Draper? Of course, JB straightens up and flies right before the credits roll, but I was hoping Brenda would wind up with Amit.
There’s not a lot of baseball in this movie, though when it appears, it generates a palpable amount of suspense. Sharma and Mittal are very good at reflecting the agony, uncertainty and stress of having the world’s eyes on them. If they’re not drafted by the MLB, they will feel as if they not only let down Tom House and JB, but all of India as well. Million Dollar Arm doesn’t let up on this pressure, making the audience feel protective of Rinku and Dinesh.
Like every sports movie, Million Dollar Arm has a big, inspirational speech by the coach to rally the troops. One expects Jon Hamm to deliver it. However, as written, the speech would have been condescending coming from him. Instead, it goes to Pitobash, who makes the moment profoundly moving. The speech is short, but its message resonates powerfully. It’s the film’s best scene and the moment I finally surrendered to Million Dollar Arm.
Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) has a few tone problems in the first half’s India section. The travelogue elements at times feel a little icky, as if the camera is saying “look at how different and poor this is!” However, the jagged pacing of this half works as a representation of how tedious JB’s search is. Alan Arkin adds some flavor here, even if he’s serving up a familiar dish of sarcastic, old-man expertise. Gillespie fares better in the film’s more actor-centric second half. His cast brings their A-game. The three Indian leads are all fantastic. Bell crafts a girl-next-door persona that’s as sharp as it is likable. Paxton brings a world-weary expertise to his trainer and Jon Hamm gives a great, charitable performance that isn’t afraid to cede the spotlight or go to darker places.
Plotwise, there are no big surprises here, but I liked the finer touches. There’s a realistic business-oriented cynicism that isn’t shied away from (the MLB wants Indian players so it can fill India with baseball caps, balls and bats), and it hints at the potential for exploiting players with this contest. It always pulls back from this darkness, but I appreciated that it was briefly there.
Million Dollar Arm’s biggest strength is its sneaky way of making you care about its characters. Sure, it’s clichéd, but it’s perfectly fine Sunday afternoon movie fare. It’s unfortunate that it will be stomped on at the box office by that giant, radioactive lizard from another place that loves baseball, Japan.
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