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While Moneyball uses baseball as only a backdrop for character studies, most movies with epic sports scores do the same but still manage to contain inspirational genre music. Danna's instructions were clearly to avoid that technique, instead supplying extremely conservative and minimal atmosphere to Moneyball. The baseball scenes were clearly not meant to receive any heroic original material related to the score, this despite the legendary public address system (and Roy Steele, the "voice of God," behind the microphone) and the rowdy atmosphere at the Oakland Coliseum, which has allowed noisemakers and a carnival-like, youthful atmosphere for A's games. Danna's approach was to supply a hesitant and almost emotionally devoid representation of a statistical game of chess, but even from this perspective, his music generally underplays the importance of the story's family connections and impact on the game of baseball. There is no clearly dominant theme in the score, Danna instead using ostinatos in Philip Glass mode to quietly address the brains at work on screen. In cues like "One Way Out," "Time Tested Intangibles," and "More," these rhythms promise to pick up steam but are never fully realized. In "It's a Process," Danna adds deep piano thuds of a Craig Armstrong variety to these string and woodwind rhythms, lending slight gravity to that and similar cues. In "The Streak" and "Hattie," Danna manipulates the piano digitally to create a sense of distorted reality, an irritating effect in an otherwise smooth score. The cues for the height of the 20-game streak are nearly as dismal as the rest of the soundtrack, though a sight sense of desperation in "Game 5" (never a good game for the A's during this period) eventually yields to some almost dreamy, resigned contemplation in subsequent cues as Beane considers taking a job with the Boston Red Sox. The score's ostinatos are summarized in "On Its Head," capping a surprisingly distant overall tone. There is little warmth to address the family portions of Moneyball and absolutely no enthusiasm to reflect fans' appreciation for the team. Danna's focus on the cool, statistical element is barely functional and essentially fails to tell any kind of narrative to compete in any regard with other scores about sports perseverance, family challenges, or even statistical genius (James Horner's rhythmic representations of genius are infinitely superior). The album contains 34 minutes of score that will be difficult to embrace, though it at least has few moments of turmoil to upset the tepid but smooth listening experience. While nobody should have expected music like Randy Newman's classic The Natural to grace this film, it's hard not to get the feeling that the score was intentionally buried in a movie that could have used a few more doses of whimsy. Despite the ruthless statistical aspect to baseball, it is still a kid's game.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Mychael Danna reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.36 (in 14 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.02 (in 4,370 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 48:48