Million Dollar Arm is an inspirational sports movie, but it’s more about the personal relationships between J.B. Bernstein, Rinku Singh, Dinesh Patel, and their translator, Amit, that make this movie more than just another sports movie.
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In 2008, J. B. Bernstein is a sports agent who finds his business being seriously outplayed by his deep-pocketed competitors. Inspired by reality shows and Indian cricket games on TV, Bernstein gets the bold idea of finding cricket players in India and training them to become pro baseball players in America. After a long search, Bernstein finds two talented, but non-cricket playing, youths, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel.
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Together, Berthstein takes his prospects to Los Angeles where they find mastering a new sport in a foreign land a daunting challenge. As these boys struggle amid an alien culture, Bernstein must find a way to make their dream come true. In doing, Bernstein finds a deeper humanity to his work with growing friendships he never expected to have. (Source : IMDb, written by Kenneth Chisholm)
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Jon Hamm said it best when he has that is movie is more than just a baseball movie.
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India serves as the backdrop for some of the movie, and although it shows a lot of impoverished areas, India still plays a big part in this movie. The whole process in which J.B. Bernstein goes to find pitchers who can throw more than 80 mph is not only comical at times, but interesting in the aspect of how the process to find a “million dollar arm” worked.
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Based on the true story of sports agent J.B. Bernstein, Million Dollar Arm is a touching drama about relationships more than it is the actual sport of baseball.
J.B. Bernstein is the CEO of Access Group, an athlete management firm and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Seven Figures Management, a sports marketing and athlete representation firm. Bernstein created the The Million Dollar Arm contest in India, which yielded the first two Indian men (Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel) to ever sign pro sports contracts in the US (with the Pittsburgh Pirates). Bernstein’s involvement with Singh and Patel is the basis for the film, Million Dollar Arm. Bernstein is portrayed by Jon Hamm. (Source: Wikipedia)
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This movie also has a great cast. Jon Hamm plays J.B. Bernstein. Aasif Mandvi plays his sports agency business partner, Aash. Lake Bell plays Bernstein’s tenant and eventual love interest, Brenda. Suraj Sharma portrays Rinku and Madhur Mittal portrays Dinesh. Pitobash portrays Amit, the translator, and Darshan Jariwala portrays Vivek, Bernstein’s guide in India. Alan Arkin portrays Ray, the baseball scout who travels to India to help Bernstein find baseball pitchers. Bill Paxton portrays Tom House, the veteran pitching coach, who helps to train Rinku and Dinesh.
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I thought this was a really great movie. It has heart, soul, comical moments, and at times, it pulled at my heart-strings. I would recommend this for a family movie night. Just remember to continue watching the credits, as it shows some real-life photos as well as updates on most of the characters.
Have a great day!