Last weekend I went to see the Disney movie "Million Dollar Arm" starring Jon Hamm as a sports agent looking to make two young men from India the next Major League Baseball stars. To be honest, I didn't even know it was a Disney movie until my boss made fun of me for seeing it.
"Million Dollar Arm" is like "Slumdog Millionaire" meets "Cool Runnings" meets "Bridesmaids" (in which Jon Hamm is a chauvinist jerk). Hamm stars as J.B. Bernstein, a sports agent who has left his big time agency to go solo. When his business begins to fail, he decides to try and a find a country that has been untapped for recruiting talent for the U.S. leagues.
Fast forward to J.B. in India hosting a pitching competition called Million Dollar Arm.
The film follows J.B. and the two young men he brings from India to Los Angeles to try out for a group of Major League Baseball scouts.
J.B.'s two hopefuls are played by Suraj Sharma ("Life of Pi") and Madhur Mittal ("Slumdog Millionaire"). I don't want to spoil anything, so instead, I'll share with you some of the things I liked about the film.
First of all, if you're a fan of Bollywood dancing or the accompanying upbeat music, be prepared to want to download every song in this movie. The soundtrack is awesome.
The supporting case has limited screen time, but makes the most of it. Alan Arkin plays a retired scout who flies to India to help J.B. find his money makers and Bill Paxton plays the boys' U.S. coach. Lake Bell serves as J.B.'s love interest and the boys' surrogate mom in the States.
Most importantly, the film provides you with two full hours of Jon Hamm. He is, without question, one of the most classically handsome Hollywood movie stars. Whether he's in a suit, in jeans and a baseball cap or sweating through his shirt in Mumbai, he owns it.
The film is based on a true story, so in the final moments before the credits you will learn what really happened to all of the characters, which is cool.
I went to the movie for the Jon Hamm factor, but there were several families in our theater and all the elementary and middle school kids seemed to really enjoy it too.
Are you with me on the Jon Hamm crush?
