Million Dollar Arm

One of the businessmen in Craig Gillespie's Million Dollar Arm refers to India as “the last untapped market.” It is intended to be a dig at global capitalists who worship money and treat humans like assets, but it's more evocative of the mercenary-missionary strategy at the heart of this dog-eared Disney sports film. Jon Hamm plays struggling sports agent J.B. Bernstein, and although this emotionally withdrawn huckster is right in his Don Draper wheelhouse, the film's dewy-eyed sentiment is a bad look on Hamm. J.B. launches the “Million Dollar Arm” talent competition throughout India, hoping to convert hard-throwing cricket players into pitchers. Once the film flies to Mumbai, we are treated to a half-hour of racial stereotypes, before returning to America for another hour of fish-out-of-water stereotypes. At one point, J.B. calls India “a study in extremes,” but Million Dollar Arm is a study in squishy middles.