Its hero and victim, Richard Hoover (Greg Kinnear), is a motivational speaker who has invented a nine-step program for success.

NEWYORKER: Little Miss Sunshine

Helgeland and the production designer, Richard Hoover, re-create the shabbiness and the discomforts of pre-television baseball before the big money poured in the cruddy, dun-colored dressing rooms and the scrappy fields.

NEWYORKER: Artful Dodgers