Million Dollar Arm

Based on a true story, Jon Hamm plays JB, a sports agent in major league baseball who has just had his biggest potential client walk out on him. In a fit of desperation, he has a lightbulb moment and decides to jet off to India to discover some of their best cricket players and potentially mould them into baseball players. With the help of cranky talent scout Ray (Alan Arkin, comedic relief 101), they run an America’s Next Top Pitcher competition and come away with Rinku (Life Of Pi’s Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh (Slumdog Millionaire’s Madhur Mittal). Bringing them back to the bright lights of Big City, USA, he goes about trying to make some money from his newfound pet projects, while they try to acclimatize to their new surroundings.

Also thrown into the mix is JB’s love interest neighbour (Lake Bell), a zen-like baseball coach (Bill Paxton), a constantly happy assistant (Pitobash, comedic relief 102), JB’s business partner (Aasif Mandvi), their billionaire boss (Tzi Ma), and just about every sports movie cliché you can think of. You can probably map out how the storyline progresses before the opening credits have ended, right down to the minute of each hurdle and comeback.

What director Craig Gillespie (Lars & The Real Girl, Fright Night) has on his side are the beautiful sights as the scouts travel around India, and some great actors on top form. It’s a good thing that Jon Hamm is so naturally likeable and charismatic, because JB is not an easy man to warm to, pulling off the whole “business first, other people’s feelings second” shtick a little too well. Luke Bell continues to impress in a supporting role, bringing real depth to what could have easily been a very one dimensional character. Sharma and Mittal do fine work too, both mixing the excitement of a new life with the guilt of having left their entire families behind in poverty.

Charming and feel good, but ultimately too formulaic to be memorable. Never striking out nor hitting a home run, Million Dollar Arm hits it right down the middle of the field.