History Film / MillionDollarArm

Sports Agent J.B. Bernstein just lost his last hot prospect to a bigger, more powerful agency. His small group is broke, and his partner can't think of any untapped markets that are left for new talent. That is until J.B. happens to watch that silly game of "cricket" his friend is always talking about...

A 2014 Creator/{{Disney}} film starring Creator/JonHamm as J.B. Bernstein, Creator/BillPaxton as Tom House, Lake Bell as Brenda, Suraj Sharma as Rinku Singh, Madhur Mittal as Dinesh Patel, Pitobash Tripathy as Amit Roham, and Creator/AlanArkin as Ray Poitevint.

* {{Adorkable}}: Rinku and Dinesh, once they enter the United States. Because they are both FishOutOfWater, coming from villages with no electricity, things like automatic doors, fast food and elevators are a novelty for them.

This Film provides examples of:

* [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Indians Love Cricket]]: In-universe for the film, and in real life. Converting an enormous market of cricket-lovers to baseball-lovers was a huge selling-point for the agency to their investors. Too bad their two star prospects both [[FunnyMoment hate cricket]].

A 2014 Creator/{{Disney}} film starring Creator/JonHamm as J.B. Bernstein, Creator/BillPaxton as Tom House, Suraj Sharma as Rinku Singh, Madhur Mittal as Dinesh Patel, Pitobash Tripathy as Amit Roham, and Creator/AlanArkin as Ray Poitevint.

* BollywoodNerd: Amit, who dreams of becoming a baseball coach, and serves as the interpreter while learning advice from Ray Poitevint.

* {{Determinator}}: J.B. and Deepesh Solanki: J.B. despite the hassle of recruiting boys in a foreign country. The former is the only Indian J.B. meets who knows about and loves baseball, who offers to work for J.B. without pay and serves as the boy's translator in America.

A 2014 Creator/{{Disney}} film starring Creator/JonHamm as J.B. Bernstein, Creator/BillPaxton as Tom House, Suraj Sharma as Rinku Singh, Madhur Mittal as Dinesh Patel, and Creator/AlanArkin as Ray Poitevint.

* VomitIndiscretionShot: Aash makes brief mention how his twins have both been "puking a lot" recently, then later, when J.B. has Rinku and Dinesh stay briefly at Aash's house and then picks them up, Aash greets them at the door, carrying one of his sons... only for his boy to vomit right at the doorstep as they're leaving. Doubles as a BrickJoke.

Sports Agent JB Bernstein just lost his last hot prospect to a bigger, more powerful agency. His small group is broke, and his partner can't think of any untapped markets that are left for new talent. That is until JB happens to watch that silly game of "cricket" his friend is always talking about...

BasedOnATrueStory, ''Million Dollar Arm'' follows JB as he travels to India to find some new prospects to represent in the States, as well as bring the lucrative branding of baseball to the billion-plus market of the Indian subcontinent.

* AdaptedOut: Manoj Shukla, the third finalist in the competition. Although he had the most "raw talent" according to the real JB, the fact that he had no legal records prevented him from obtaining a passport going to the United States with Rinku and Dinesh. JB kept trying to get him into MLB, but little technicalities kept tripping them up until Manoj turned eighteen and was [[ShootTheShaggyDog too old to compete]]. Unsurprisingly, the film cut him out to keep the narrative streamlined and optimistic.

* AdaptationalVillainy: JB and Will Chang, though the real JB admits that Jon Hamm played him to a tee. JB tries to curry favor with an athlete during a party at the boys' expense, and ignores the fact that they are homesick. Will is portrayed as a CorruptCorporateExecutive who shows no regard for the boys' welfare and only for Million Dollar Arm.
** One notable change is when one of the boy's hands gets injured days before a try out; in the book, Rinku is angry at himself for injuring his hand with a steak knife that he didn't need to use. In the film, JB gets AngerBornOfWorry that makes him out to be a JerkAss because he's worried the injury will affect Rinku's ability to pitch.

* {{Determinator}}: JB and Deepesh Solanki. JB despite the hassle of recruiting boys in a foreign country. The former is the only Indian JB meets who knows about and loves baseball, who offers to work for JB without pay and serves as the boy's translator in America.
* GilliganCut: More of a Gilligan Pan, but when JB chastises Ray for always nodding off and not even watching the try-outs, Ray claims to be able to ''hear'' the speed of the pitches, much to JB's disbelief. Cue JB being socked by a wild ball.

* FelonyMisdemeanor: In real life, several government officials tried to arrest JB's team for not having approval from a local general to set up the batting cage. The general, angry at being woken up for permission, shouted about arresting foreigners for playing baseball.

* HiddenDepths: The boys in addition to pitching well are talented Indian cooks. Towards the end of the film, with Brenda's help, they make JB an elaborate feast.

* MustHaveCaffeine: JB in real life. Part of the reason he was stressed in India, apart from having trouble finding a candidate and dealing with red tape, was that he couldn't find Diet Coke easily and suffered withdrawal migraines as a result.
* PapaWolf / ParentalSubstitute: JB ends up becoming this to the boys, as he is the closest thing they have to a parent in the United States.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Despite the fact that he is very short on cash, JB is dismayed to learn that the easiest way to "sidestep the system" (i.e. get things done quickly and efficiently in the notoriously slow and inefficient India) is to offer people bribes. He just mistakenly does it right in the man's own shop, very indiscreetly.
* ShipperOnDeck: Rinku and Dinesh ask if JB will marry Brenda, after he spends the night with her. He has to explain to them what "hooking up" is, and they cheer him on (when in actuality the boys coming from modest Indian culture would be more discreet).
* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: Boy howdy. Most of the contestants in "Million Dollar Arm" can't even hit with speeds above 50 miles per hour, and they include an old man who "feels very young." JB is quite desperate until Rinku and Dinesh appear.

** Brenda and JB also met long after Rinku and Dinesh came to the United States and [[spoiler: got signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates]]; she also wasn't his medical school tenant but an entrepreneur he met at a party. She was added as a LoveInterest for the film.
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Aash makes brief mention how his twins have both been "puking a lot" recently, then later, when JB has Rinku and Dinesh stay briefly at Aash's house and then picks them up, Aash greets them at the door, carrying one of his sons... only for his boy to vomit right at the doorstep as they're leaving. Doubles as a BrickJoke.

"[''on phone''] How fast do they pitch in cricket? [''pause''] Fine, ''bowl''. How fast do they bowl in cricket?"

-->-'''J.B.'''

Sports Agent J.B. Bernstein just lost his last hot prospect to a bigger, more powerful agency. His small group is broke, and his partner can't think of any untapped markets that are left for new talent. That is until J.B. happens to watch that silly game of "cricket" his friend is always talking about...

BasedOnATrueStory, ''Million Dollar Arm'' follows J.B. as he travels to India to find some new prospects to represent in the States, as well as bring the lucrative branding of baseball to the billion-plus market of the Indian subcontinent.

* AdaptedOut: Manoj Shukla, the third finalist in the competition. Although he had the most "raw talent" according to the real J.B., the fact that he had no legal records prevented him from obtaining a passport going to the United States with Rinku and Dinesh. JB kept trying to get him into MLB, but little technicalities kept tripping them up until Manoj turned eighteen and was [[ShootTheShaggyDog too old to compete]]. Unsurprisingly, the film cut him out to keep the narrative streamlined and optimistic.

* GilliganCut: More of a Gilligan Pan, but when J.B. chastises Ray for always nodding off and not even watching the try-outs, Ray claims to be able to ''hear'' the speed of the pitches, much to J.B.'s disbelief. Cue J.B. being socked by a wild ball.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Despite the fact that he is very short on cash, J.B. is dismayed to learn that the easiest way to "sidestep the system" (i.e. get things done quickly and efficiently in the notoriously slow and inefficient India) is to offer people bribes. He just mistakenly does it right in the man's own shop, very indiscreetly.

* VomitIndiscretionShot: Aash makes brief mention how his twins have both been "puking a lot" recently, then later, when J.B. has Rinku and Dinesh stay briefly at Aash's house and then picks them up, Aash greets them at the door, carrying one of his sons... only for his boy to vomit right at the doorstep as they're leaving. Doubles as a BrickJoke.

** One notable change is when one of the boy's hands gets injured days before a try out; in the book, Rinku is angry at himself for injuring his hand. In the film, JB gets AngerBornOutOfWorry that makes him out to be a JerkAss.

* MundaneMadeAwesome:

* [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Indians Love Cricket]]: Converting an enormous market of cricket-lovers to baseball-lovers was a huge selling-point for the agency to their investors. Too bad their two star prospects both [[FunnyMoment hate cricket]].

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: While in the film the "Million Dollar Arm" competition is shown as a recruiting gimmick to find the most talented athletes to take back to the United States, in real life, it was actually an ongoing television program the agency produced as a commercial feature. Yes, it advertised their idea of a new pool of young athletes, but it was also content they could resell to TV networks, foreign and domestic (never a bad idea).