The plot suggests an intriguing triple play that combines the outside-of-box thinking of "Moneyball," the can-do gumption of "Jerry Maguire" and the mass-of-humanity chaos of "Slumdog Millionaire" underscored with music by the Oscar-winning A.R. Rahman. And for about half the movie, it almost succeeds.
But there is a gaping hole where "Million Dollar Arm"’s heart should be that widens to crater-size in the second half. And that hole is named JB Bernstein (Jon Hamm), a self-centered, arrogant serial model-dater who exhibits a near-sociopathic lack of concern for the welfare of others. For some reason, we are asked to cheer for this exploiter of two sheltered teen athletes as he drags them from their small Indian villages, flies them to Los Angeles and then expects them to sit around his coldly contemporary high-priced bachelor pad in between training sessions for a major league tryout.
They don’t speak English. They know next to nothing about the game they are supposed to be playing at professional levels. They don’t even know how elevators work. Yet they remain steadfastly loyal to “Mr. JB, Sir,” a man who does little to help them to overcome their culture shock and homesickness save for tossing them a couple of power bars for breakfast every day.
By all rights, this movie should belong to Bernstein’s discoveries, the inscrutable Dinesh (Madhur Mittal, who was Dev Patel’s criminal brother in "Slumdog") and outgoing Rinku (Suraj Sharma, the star of "Life of Pi"). If the audience is pulling for anyone, it is these two brave strangers in a strange land. Although the 2008 sports drama "Sugar" already explored this fertile ground in its story of a Dominican baseball player, it still would be a more enriching account.
At least with his just-so jaw stubble and shark-like smile, Jon Hamm keeps us watching initially as he steps up to the plate and makes his case for a post-"Mad Men" career as a leading man on the big screen. In a way, it helps that his Bernstein is cut from the same smooth-talking seductive cloth as his ad whiz Don Draper.
I didn’t even mind the incredibly corny “a-ha” moment when Bernstein, feeling defeated after losing a major client, mindlessly flips through TV channels. He suddenly spies Susan Boyle performing her astonishing rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" on "Britain’s Got Talent" before switching over to a channel showing a cricket match. A couple back and forths with the remote, and he concocts the idea of inviting young Indian players to compete for a chance to become the next great MLB pitcher.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46moKWkmaS7brDOpaOaql2Wv655kWlobQ%3D%3D