The true story of a sports agent who creates a reality show in India to recruit cricket players to become baseball pitchers has all the feel-good underdog story beats that populate most sports-themed films as well as the TV-show-in-India aspect, making this a unique, if not obvious, sports tale mash-up. Starring Mad Men's Jon Hamm as the sports agent and Suraj Sharma (LIFE OF PI) and Madhur Mittal (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE) as the cricket players who win the contest and are brought to America, the cast is bumped up with Lake Bell, Bill Paxton, and Alan Arkin in what looks to be a decent Disney sports genre flick.
Play ball!:
Here's the synopsis (in case my intro didn't do it for you):
A sports agent stages an unconventional recruitment strategy to get talented Asian cricket players to play Major League Baseball.
It's interesting to see Jon Hamm taking on this kind of role for a solo lead. It's somewhat safe as it's not exactly risky material. This is feel-good fare through and through and after his work on Mad Men you'd think he would be ready to tackle some meatier material. Hamm hasn't flexed his cinematic muscles since playing a tough FBI agent in Ben Affleck's THE TOWN. That said, he doesn't necessarily have to shoot for an Oscar with every film role he takes. Time to call Scorsese or David O. Russell.
MILLION DOLLAR ARM takes the field on May 16, 2014.