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Who would have ever thought that a simple game like pinball was once so contentious? "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game," written and directed by Austin and Meredith Bragg, brings us inside one man's love for the game and his role in legitimizing it in the eyes of the United States government.

As a game, pinball might not seem exciting enough to warrant a movie about it, but it's fascinating to learn that a seemingly innocent arcade game was once deeply controversial. The movie opens with an older Roger Sharpe (Dennis Boutsikaris) recalling his fight to make pinball legal after discovering his passion for the game. The movie cuts back and forth between his testimony and 1970s New York City, where a young Roger (Mike Faist) stumbles upon a pinball machine and is immediately hooked.

Roger has moved to New York City to be a writer, and he convinces an editor at Gentleman's Quarterly to give him a shot. Once he discovers the legal issues surrounding pinball and how it was primarily seen as a form of gambling, he feels he has a story at hand, even if his editor doesn't. When the initial article turns into the opportunity to write a book, Roger throws himself into the game, sometimes at the expense of his relationship with his girlfriend Ellen (Crystal Reed).

"Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game" is a thin but breezy and entertaining 90-minute glimpse into a story many may not know. The Bragg Brothers spend a lot of time in young Roger and Ellen's meet-cute and relationship, which is important to Roger's overall story, but takes away from the premise at hand. It feels like "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game" occasionally has to pull back from being a rom-com instead of a period-set piece of gaming history.

Faist is the draw for this movie, giving a full-throated and entertaining performance as young Roger. The majority of his face is hidden under a gigantic mustache, but you can see Faist fully committing to Roger's passion for pinball. Faist, who was Tony-nominated for the stage production of "Dear Evan Hansen," broke out in a big way with his captivating performance as Riff in Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story," where he delivered an Oscar-worthy performance (but was sadly overlooked). "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game" is likely to be a small blimp in his growing career, but is a good opportunity to showcase his capacity to lead a film.

With its focus on a piece of unlikely history, the Bragg Brothers have made an interesting little movie. Its short runtime doesn't always give the movie enough room to breathe, but the Braggs have fun with the material, and Faist solidifies his place as a star on the rise.