‘Moneyball’ Wins Fans at Academy, on Twitter

Film’s Saturday AMPAS screening goes well, and Jerry Seinfeld, Rod Lurie and Edgar Wright sing its praises on Twitter

"Moneyball" may have narrowly lost the weekend box-office race to "The Lion King," but it certainly made fans of the critics when it opened Friday, and established itself as a major Oscar contender in the process.

The film also played to what one Academy member described as a "huge crowd" Saturday night at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, where it had its official AMPAS members screening.

According to voters in attendance, "Moneyball" filled the 1,000-seat theater and played extremely well to the audience of members and guests, getting laughs in the right places and prompting generous applause at the end for star Brad Pitt and co-star Jonah Hill, and "respectable" applause for director Bennett Miller.

Brad PittAlso read: 'Moneyball' Knocks It Out of the Park

And judging from Twitter, the movie has made itself some high-profile fans as well.

Among those who've sung the praises of Miller's movie about the small-market Oakland A's and their unconventional success in the 2002 basball season are comic Jerry Seinfeld, directors Edward Wright and Rod Lurie, actress Kate Walsh and former talk-show host Larry King.

Seinfeld (@JerrySeinfeld) was the most enthusiastic, if one is to take his tweet at face value: "'MoneyBall' my new favorite movie of all time! Disregard all previous!"

(For the record, Seinfeld's last movie review on Twitter was this, in mid August: "#'CrazyStupidLove' My Best Movie of The Year. No questions. Just go.")

"Straw Dogs" director Rod Lurie, for his part, took note of the fact that the film is an atypical sports movie, deriving its drama not from on-the-field action but from dialogue about seemingly esoteric things like on-base percentage. "MONEYBALL is so layered and brilliant," wrote @RodLurie, "that I can't imagine how this cut survived research screenings. Brad Pitt hits a new high."

Edgar Wright (@edgarwright), the British director of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World," noted, "Have never watched a game of baseball, nor fully understand it & yet I dug 'Moneyball'. Great stuff from @prattprattpratt [actor Chris Pratt] & @JonahHill."

Notorious soft touch Larry King (@kingsthings) whipped out eight exclamation points for four sentences of praise: "You don't have to love baseball to love Moneyball. Brad Pitt in the performance of a lifetime! SIX stars!!!!! A great movie!!"

"Private Practice" star Kate Walsh (@katewalsh), meanwhile, made a big discovery:  "Tw'eeps, I snuck out to watch 'moneyball' I enjoyed. Turns out: brad pitt is a movie star."

And "Less Than Zero" novelist Bret Easton Ellis (@BretEastonEllis), who's always seemed more of a nightclub guy than a ballpark guy, had this to say: "'Moneyball' is the only movie I've seen so far this year where a paying Los Angeles audience applauded at the end. In tears, me included."

Novelist Alafair Burke (@alafairburke), who writes the Ellie Hatcher and Samantha Kincaid novels, added, "If you're looking for a good movie this weekend, go see Moneyball. I don't even like baseball and loved every second of it."

Of course, not every celebrity tweet was positive. Financial advisor and TV host Suze Orman (@SuzeOrmanShow) wrote, "So I just saw MoneyBall- pretty good- but I was not over the moon about it."

Then there's actor Rainn Wilson (@rainnwilson), whose tweet could have been an endorsement of sorts … or maybe not.

"I call my left one 'Moneyball,'" he wrote.

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