Million
Dollar Arm
**
Dir: Craig Gillespie. With: Jon Hamm, Aasif
Mandvi, Alan Arkin. 124 mins. Cert: PG
A cold hard business story, reshaped by Disney
into a warm, fuzzy hug. Jon Hamm plays J.B. Bernstein, a true-life sports
management nabob facing an eroding client base; his solution lay East, in
staging a talent contest designed to recruit young Indian cricketers as Major
League pitchers. Hamm and Alan Arkin’s grouchy scout conclude these deals with
unarguable professionalism, but two hours allows us to spot the manoeuvres
required to magic neo-colonialist playbook into heartwarming fairytale: the
SuBo clips, the subplot elevating vapid Bernstein from model-boffing (boo!) to
tenant-boffing (erm, yay?), the fondly indulgent regard for white guys
plundering developing nations’ resources. Viewed this way: not so feelgood.
Million Dollar Arm opens in cinemas nationwide today.
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