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Million Dollar Arm Review

By Erin

Disney’s newest film, Million Dollar Arm has arrived in theaters everywhere today! I had the chance to attend a press screening of the movie last month and here’s what I have to share about this wonderful film. There’s so much to love about it, so much more than I was expecting there to be, I was pleasantly surprised, and I am sure you will be too! It doesn’t hurt that one of the stars of the film is Jon Hamm. 😉

Based on a true story, Million Dollar Arm stars Jon Hamm as JB Bernstein who is a struggling sports agent. Bernstein realizes that business has changed drastically and things aren’t going so well for his career. As a last-ditch effort to save his career and livelihood he comes up with this crazy idea to find baseball’s next great pitching ace by traveling to India to produce a reality show competition called “The Million Dollar Arm.” He leaves everything behind, leaving a large prestigious firm to go out on his own with a dear friend Ash (played by Aasif Mandvi).

With the help of retired baseball scout Ray Poitevint (Alan Arkin) who is cantankerous yet has a remarkable eagle eye, they soon discover Dinesh (Madhur Mittal from “Slumdog Millionaire”) and Rinku (Suraj Sharma from “Life of Pi”), who are two 18-year-old boys who have no idea about playing baseball, yet have a knack for throwing a fastball. Many hilarious and heartfelt scenes ensue with these boys.

Million Dollar Arm: Dreams, Second Chances, & More.

By Erin

*I attended a media/press junket for the purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

When I first heard about the movie, Million Dollar Arm, I didn’t know what to think or expect. Another baseball film based on a true story…. ok… Oh!! Jon Hamm is in it? Sure! I’ll go see it! I was pleasantly surprised and blown away by this film. It is not just another sports movie. It is also about relationships, family, second chances, and making dreams come true. Now, come with me to Beverly Hills and let’s see what the stars of the show had to say about Million Dollar Arm. In attendance was Jon Hamm (“JB Bernstein”), Lake Bell (“Brenda Paauwe”), the real JB Bernstein, the real Rinku Singh, Joe Roth (Producer) and Gordon Gray (Producer).

First we chatted with the producers of the film. When discussing about how it is more than just a sports movie Gordon Gray had this to say.

Gordon Gray: I mean for us this is a movie really about JB as a fish out of water going to India with his crazy scheme, leaving a single guy, a bachelor having a fun life and then through the evolution of this development with the players, becoming a surrogate father and ultimately opening up his heart to find love and marriage.

Joe Roth was asked what attracted him to this project.

Joe Roth: Everything attracted me to this project. And I love the second chance stories and I love fish-out-of-water stories and I, I love the idea that I’m sitting in a movie theater and I’m thinking wow if these two guys can accomplish that, I can get up out of here when the lights get on and I can accomplish almost anything.