I’m a big baseball fan, but I had never heard of the “Million Dollar Arm” contest, in which cricket players in India were given the opportunity to win baseball tryouts for major league teams.  According to the movie, anyway, this radical idea was born in desperation by an agent trying to make a big splash and revive his own career.

Million Dollar Arm chronicles the journey of that agent, J. B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm) as he travels to India to arrange tryouts, produce a televised contest and return to the States with the two top prospects.  This lengthy part of the movie is “fish out of water” territory, as Bernstein is completely overwhelmed by India, doesn’t seem to actually do anything (although he’s always exhausted) and, with the help of ancient baseball scout Ray Poitevint (Alan Arkin), sit through thousands of tryouts until they find their prospects.

The film then switches back to Los Angeles, where the young men, Dinesh Patel (Madhur Mittal) and Rinku Singh (Suraj Sharma), along with their interpreter and chaperone Amit (Pitobash), find themselves, well, fish out of water.  Bernstein and his business partner Aash (Aasif Mandvi) are too busy to babysit their charges, and their investor insists on sticking to the timetable even though the Indians are clearly not ready for a pro tryout.  Help arrives in the form of instructor Tom House (Bill Paxton) and Bernstein’s gorgeous neighbor Brenda (Lake Bell), but will it be enough to overcome the cultural obstacles and sports naiveté facing the young men?

This is a Disney movie, so of course it will.  Craig Gillespie’s film is rooted in unity, finding the happy place between disparate cultures, wild expectations and opposing paths where everyone can ultimately benefit.  Life isn’t usually like this, but movies can fudge timelines, character flaws and even raw facts to achieve symbiotic art. When it works, it’s great.  And Million Dollar Arm generally works.  It’s formulaic and predictable, but it also takes time to develop its characters and relationships, and that works wonders.  It’s a nice feel good story, capped by pictures and film of the real guys during the end credits.  I recommend it to all.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  25 June 2014.