First, I have to get this off my chest. Oliver Stone is the most pompous director I’ve ever seen. He takes a movie with no plot, no substance, and no character depth and takes us on this boring ride for two and a half hours. And it wouldn’t be right if he didn’t appear in the movie. He even has a painting of his likeness in the coach’s favorite bar. Can you say ego?
I haven’t seen this many stars crammed into a movie in my life. Some of the stars involved: Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz, James Wood, Jamie Foxx, Bill Belamy, James Brown, and appearances by Charlton Heston, Jimmy Jones, Dick Butkus, and that stripper chick from Saved By The Bell, who, surprise, gets naked. It’s too bad all of these stars couldn’t save this movie. Not even Vince Lombardi coming back from the dead could save this mess. The only positive here was Lawrence Taylor’s performance. He acted like he played: intense. Al Pacino should be ashamed of himself for even excepting this gig. I guess the combination of Oliver Stone and football must have sounded good to him. It too was intrigued, but I left pissed off that I had wasted so much time watching this. I won’t even mention how it is filled with a ton of sports cliches and guys penises.
I guess Stone thought his cinematography was cutting edge, but it made me crazy. I couldn’t tell where on the field the team was. The bizarre zooms and jerks just hurt more than they helped. You’ll have more fun watching ESPN Sportscenter any given Sunday night, and you’ll find yourself much more captivated.
This movie was about two hours longer than it had to be. I just want to know who was in charge of editing. It seems nothing hit the cutting room floor. Nobody wants to hear dialogue for ten minutes or more. This happens more times than I wished to count. Football is an action sport, and this movie is more talk than action. Stone needs to learn when to cut some film. I guess if he didn’t learn after Born On The Fourth Of July, then maybe he never will.
Football is an ugly sport and that is its appeal. This is an ugly movie that will appeal to nobody.
+ charlie craine
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