Jon Hamm plays JB, a self centred, commitment-phobe batchelor who is driven by meaning less realationships, money and his work.
He is a sports agent, who has gone it alone with his Aash and Theresa as a small three person team.
They are down on their luck when their client list hits zero and no one wants to sign with them. They devise an idea to turn an Indian cricketer into a baseball pitcher.
The competition is called "The Million Dollar Arm" where the winner of the competition can win the cash!
JB travels through India holding try-outs and then nurtures the winners back in the US with the traditional and expected fallouts, love interests and conflicts on the way.
As with most Disney sports films you can tell where this will end before it begins. That, however, does not make the journey any less enjoyable. While being predictable and formulaic, if you like a good Disney tale of the underdog, this will satisfy that itch very nicely.
This tale is based on a true story (and looking at photo of the real winners, Dinesh Patel has a striking resemblance to Adrian Sutil, F1 Driver).
Adrian Sutil - Taken from fanpix.net
Dinesh Patel (right) - Taken from nypost.com
The strange thing is apparently the true story is just that as well, pretty much all true.
I am a fan of Disney and I love a good rags to riches story. Mighty Ducks (even 3!), Remember the Titans (another true story but much grittier but still Disney!) and Cool Runnings. This telling of a sporting tale is handled very well and is a perfect family film as it is inoffensive in the extreme. Which is why many may hate it. It pulls all the right heart strings and has you welling up exactly where they want you to, and some people don't like the almost cheap emotional manipulation that you get from Disney. I think the reason is because it is so structured, some would argue that loses the heart felt nature they are meant to be going for.
I say to those people, you knew what you were getting when you put Netflix on and found this. Sit back and enjoy its simplicity and gentle nature and tone. I have had the word "Bland" running through my head all the way through this write up and I am loathed to use it but in one sense that is what the film is (and I don't mean it to sound negative).
The predictability of the movie and classic Disney set up and resolution could have the feeling of a bland, mass produced story, but I say try to see through that. It is a lovely film about one mans self discovery and realisation there is more to this life than just the money. There is a real human quality to why you should feel for these characters and each actor does well to convince you they should be in this film.
I would suggest watching this film as an antidote to a Saw marathon (or replace that with any other brutal horror franchise). It's easy, gentle and a perfect Disney film. Take that as it sounds. If you don't like Disney this film is not for you. If you do, it is not one of their classics but it will pass 2 hours of your life very nicely where you can let the wave of forced emotion wash over you like a cloud.
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