Mike McCahill 

Million Dollar Arm review – Jon Hamm stars in disingenous Indian-baseball story

A slick but not-so-feelgood neocolonialist story about the real-life sports manager who staged a talent search to recruit Indian cricketers as baseball pitchers, writes Mike McCahill
  
  

Million Dollar Arm - Jon Hamm
Heartwarming fairytale? Jon Hamm in Million Dollar Arm. Photograph: Ishika Mohan Photograph: Ishika Mohan/Unit

A cold, hard business story, reshaped by Disney into a warm, fuzzy hug. Jon Hamm plays JB Bernstein, a true-life sports management nabob facing an eroding client base; his solution lay east, in staging a talent contest designed to recruit young Indian cricketers as Major League pitchers. Hamm and Alan Arkin's grouchy scout conclude these deals with unarguable professionalism, but we can spot the manoeuvres required to magic neocolonialist playbook into heartwarming fairytale. Along with the fondly indulgent regard for white guys plundering developing nations' resources, viewed this way: not so feelgood.

 

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