Who is this guy, and what did they do with the REAL Oliver Stone?

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 1999)

What a disappointment. Oliver Stone, Al Pacino and football. What a great movie THAT should be. "Should be" doesn't mean "IS", however. Unfortunately, Stone's flashy (and yes, impressive) shots of the the game are not enough to solidify this unfocused movie. The movie is wrought with too many music-videos and shallow characters to whom we cannot relate. If Stone wanted to make "Rudy part II" he should have concentrated more on the characters, and if he was looking for "MTV does the NFL" he shouldn't have wasted our time even introducing half of the characters. But he ends up in the middle here, with a mish-mash of football-music-videos and underdeveloped characters who have mysterious and quick attitude changes just in time to win a playoff game. The greatest let-down is that the great rebel Oliver Stone sells out and gives us a Rudy ending, without making us care for anyone like we cared about Rudy. Of course we have lots of sentimentality about the past, sure. You want to talk about the past, Mr. Stone? Remember Platoon and JFK? I do.