It’s actually a little surprising that Jon Hamm hasn’t become a movie star by now, after several successful seasons of Mad Men and appearances here and there in some big films. His new film MILLION DOLLAR ARM may change that. It’s directed by Craig Gillespie (FRIGHT NIGHT 2011) with a screenplay by Thomas McCarthy (WIN WIN) and has Hamm co-starring with Aasif Mandvi, Suraj Sharma, Lake Bell, Bill Paxton, Madhur Mittal, Pitobash and Alan Arkin. While this looks and feels pretty formulaic, to the point of where I could practically tell you the dialogue before it hits, I still imagine the final film could be a lot of fun. And if you never saw Tom McCarthy’s wrestling family dramedy WIN WIN, you may not realize just how great it is to have that guy’s name attached to a project. Take a look at the poster above and first teaser trailer below and tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Based on a true story, the film follows JB Bernstein (Hamm), a once-successful sports agent who now finds himself edged out by bigger, slicker competitors. He and his partner Aash (Mandvi) will have to close their business down for good if JB doesn’t come up with something fast. Late one night, while watching cricket being played in India on TV, JB comes up with an idea so radical it just might work. Why not go to there and find the next baseball pitching sensation? Setting off for Mumbai with nothing but a gifted but cantankerous scout (Arkin) in tow, JB stages a televised, nationwide competition called “Million Dollar Arm” where 40,000 hopefuls compete before two 18-year-old finalists, Rinku and Dinesh (Sharma, Mittal), emerge as winners. JB brings them back to the United States to train with legendary pitching coach Tom House (Paxton). The goal: get the boys signed to a major league team.