Million Dollar Arm, Movie Review

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I've never felt so much emotion over a single baseball pitch!

I was crying over someone throwing a ball.  Literally!  No exaggeration.

In Million Dollar Arm, the latest feel good sports movie by Disney, J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm) is a struggling sports agent trying to get his business off the ground.  One evening, while strategizing with his business partner Ash, Ash laments over not having someone to watch Cricket with while they discuss all the tapped out global markets.  China's sports talent: tapped out.  South Korea's sports talent: tapped out.  Etc.  Naturally they don't think of India; that comes later.

While J.B. channel surfs, he bounces between Cricket and other channels.  Cricket, as he argued earlier, is a dumb sport.  Boring.  Illogical.  How can their still be people in the World who still play it?  Craziness.  Then he stumbles upon Susan Boyle's audition for Britain's Got Talent, the famous audition that went viral online where she sings "I Dreamed a Dream."  There's a short back and forth between Cricket and Susan Boyle, cheers of the audience resonate while light bulbs electrify J.B.'s brain.

Go to India, find Cricket players who can throw a ball, and train them in baseball.  Turn it into a large competition to get everyone in India excited.  Introduce them to the joys of an unfamiliar American sport.

This is how "Million Dollar Arm" is born, the name of said competition.

Some discussion and money begging later, and J.B. is on a plane to India.

Thus ends my spoiling and summery.

Overall Million Dollar Arm is a very enjoyable movie full of laughter, crying, and inspiration.  The scenes in India are beautiful, interesting, and fun to watch.

So far one of the best movies of the year, and a great addition to the Disney Sports Movie library.

MPAA: Rated PG for mild language and some suggestive content.  How many PG movies are there!!??  Not enough.  As a note, there is a party scene where drinking is involved, and talk at some point about "going all the way" when the main character sleeps with another character.  So for a PG film, some parents might not feel comfortable with these elements, other then that, and the mild language, this is a clean feel good movie that's perfect for the family.