Million Dollar Arm: Movie Review

Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, Fright Night remake) is back with the first film he has helmed that I just didn’t quite care for (and yes, I did see 2007’s Mr. Woodcock). “Million Dollar Arm” is based on the inspiring true story of two kids from India, who come to the United States with the hope of becoming professional baseball players. There is nothing particularly wrong with the film, but it just feels so run-of-the-mill, that I had a hard time caring about the journey these young men were on.

When sports agent JB Bernstein’s (Jon Hamm) career hits a major slump, he must find a way to find a star pitcher. While channel surfing at home, he stumbles upon a cricket match and gets hit with the idea of turning a cricket pitcher into a baseball pitcher. JB’s partner Aash (Aasif Mandvi) thinks he has gone nuts, but because he is just as desperate as JB, he goes along with it. With the backing of a major league team owner, JB heads to India and launches a contest called Million Dollar Arm, where two winners will be picked to come to the United States. Rinku (Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh (Madhur Mittal) wind up being the two lucky winners.

I wasn’t familiar with the actual story of these two young men and the sports agent who discovered them, but right from the beginning, I could tell exactly where everything was heading. By mid-way through, I just lost interest. It’s a shame too, because there are some fine performances on display, most notibly from Sharma and Mittal. There is one stand-out performance from Pitobash, who plays Indian translator Amit and eventually becomes JB’s right hand man. This is Pitobash’s first American film and he steals every scene he is in.

I am not a sports fan myself, but I generally enjoy sports related stories. Unfortunately, “Million Dollar Arm” is average at best.

By: Marc Ferman