MOVIE - Million Dollar Arm

PG (2:04)

Wide Release 5/16/2014

Viewed 7/30/2014 at Kolb cheap theater

RT Critic:  61  Audience:  75

Cag:  5/Loved it! !

Directed by Craig Gillespie

Walt Disney Pictures
Based on a True Story

Jon Hamm, Lake Bell, Alan Arkin, and 3 superb Indian actors

My comments: Okay, I loved this movie for many reasons.  Half of it takes place in India, which I love watching in any way, just to get a glimpse into the culture.  I sure wasn't disappointed. It was about baseball, one of the only sports I can stand watching a movie about.  It was definitely a feel-good movie with a happy ending; always enjoyed by me.  I was totally outside myself for the full two hours and four minutes. There were plenty of guffaws and a few tears in my eye near the end.  Yup, loved it.

Reviews  Based on a true story, Disney's "Million Dollar Arm" follows JB Bernstein, a once-successful sports agent who now finds himself edged out by bigger, slicker competitors. He and his partner Aash (Aasif Mandvi) will have to close their business down for good if JB doesn't come up with something fast. Late one night, while watching cricket being played in India on TV, JB comes up with an idea so radical it just might work. Why not go to there and find the next baseball pitching sensation? Setting off for Mumbai with nothing but a gifted but cantankerous scout (Alan Arkin) in tow, JB stages a televised, nationwide competition called "Million Dollar Arm" where 40,000 hopefuls compete before two 18-year-old finalists, Rinku and Dinesh (Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal), emerge as winners. JB brings them back to the United States to train with legendary pitching coach Tom House (Bill Paxton). The goal: get the boys signed to a major league team. Not only is the game itself difficult to master, but life in the U.S. with a committed bachelor makes things even more complicated-for all of them. While Rinku and Dinesh learn the finer points of baseball and American culture, they in turn teach JB the true meaning of teamwork and commitment. Ultimately, what began as a purely commercial venture becomes something more and leads JB to find the one thing he was never looking for at all-a family.