Great Entertainment

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2010)

So let's get the bad out of the way. Over the top acting at times. The worst side of football is portrayed in most cases (one assumes there are many professional players and staff who just go about their job every day.) But it's a MOVIE. Rejoice, if you can, in the clichés. The "modern" generation of football with players getting music videos. The bad language. The clichéd sports speeches. Drugs, corruption. Rejoice I say in things taken to their extreme.
And why the rancor against Dias? She's good, I think, as the mercenary owner who seems to only care about money and winning but not the game. Maybe she's a little too pretty at times, but she puts in a solid acting job.
Al Pacino is good. Predictable in some ways, as he sort of has this stock character. But he LOOKS like a worn out coach. And you kind of expect him to give the big speeches, and let's face it, he's good at it.
The race part is kind of dumb. By that, I mean, the movie pushing the racial equality thing. OK, so the NFL has had few black QBs. This has been discussed many times, I saw no reason to address it again. But it was not a big part of the movie, so no big deal.
Anyway, I did not take this movie seriously. Think of it as an amalagram of NFL stereotypes. The egos which are huge in some cases, the drugs, the excess, the corruption etc. These have all existed, just maybe not to this extent and at the same time on the same team. But it's not like players have not used drugs, or let their egos get the better of them, or play with injuries through painkillers, etc.
If you are going to take this movie as some sort of morality play, it's probably not worth your time, IMO. Just watch it and be entertained. I think the acting is good, the dialog is entertaining, and the pace keeps your interested. If you want to watch real football, you know where to find that too.