Loved loved loved the film Moneyball about Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s in 2001/2002 and how they broke the record. I remember that game well as a huge baseball fan. The film was great, it really was, but there was one thing-well there were 4 things that pulled me out of the film, but one stuck out.
Do you know the song “The Show” by Lenka? Of course you do, it came out just 3 & 1/2 years ago in 2008….
*’m just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze and love is a riddle
I don’t know where to go, can’t do it alone
I’ve tried and I don’t know why
Slow it down, make it stop or else my heart is going to pop
‘Cause it’s too much, yeah it’s a lot to be something I’m not
I’m a fool out of love ’cause I just can’t get enough*
If you’ve seen Moneyball you have to know what I am about to say. They used this song and not just playing over what was happening. His daughter sings it to him in 2001 and then again in 2002 at the end he plays a CD she made for him of her singing it. This is a HUGE MISTAKE and should not have been overlooked in a film of this caliber.
As well, this film took place in 2001/2002 just after Sept 11th and back then you could NOT pick up your kids at the gate if they were over 12 years of age. You could drop them off 13 and younger if you had a special pass. I am not sure why this was overlooked either, it wasn’t that story moving, maybe they were trying to show how close he is with his daughter, but honestly could have been pulled right out of there.
Then young Billy Beane has almost black hair and Brad Pitt has blond/brown? Hair goes grey when we get older it doesn’t go blond.
Then another major screw up. Billy goes to Fenway park to discuss something there-I don’t want to ruin the story if you haven’t seen it-and the 2004 Red Sox championship banner is hanging up! This is a film about BASEBALL-how did they miss that?
Look this is a great film, so that is what makes these mistakes unforgivable. Especially the song! Okay you’re not a Red Sox fan, you may not have noticed that, but again it’s a baseball film. You don’t care if someone’s hair color changes that much-okay. You don’t even know the rules about taking teens to the airport post-9/11. Fair enough, I can actually let those things go, but you can not take a hit song from 2008 and have a character in 2001/2002 singing it. You can’t you can’t you can’t!!
What would otherwise be an almost flawless film really made a huge mistake. Isn’t there someone who is paid to go over these things? Seriously. In today’s technology, there is no excuse for that kind of thing and it happens all the time.
I have a friend, and I apologize to him if he’s reading this, who wrote a very good film about Sept 11th, BUT he had his main character talking on Skype on an iPad!! UGH That said, this film hasn’t been made yet. Moneyball has been.
If this kind of thing doesn’t bother you, then you will love it. Hell, you’ll probably love it anyhow. I did. I think it’s great, but that just gets under my skin and makes me want to scream!
