mixed feelings: I had such respect for Oliver Stone

Rating: Null/10 (13 February 2000)

It's a damn shame Oliver Stone (possibly one of the only film makers who combines stylism with a sense of social awareness) sold out to the commercial demands of the studio by allowing "bad commercial music" to be played when it fit the least. Yeah, I guess I liked the movie, but the damn music just totally ruined the mood. I'm not just talking about that gratuitous music video featuring Willie Beaman (I understood what they were trying to say), but the songs during the game and pretty much everywhere else in the movie. I hate to use the word inappropriate, but that's truly what it is. Anyway...
It was a very interesting (and freaking long) study of the politics of sports. Wall Street on the gridiron. Nice combination. It was interesting to watch Cameron Diaz (who was so sweet in "...Mary") be so bitchy here. Al Pacino was very good. Dennis Quaid had a strange lisp. Lauren Holly had about two or three lines in almost three hours. Jamie Foxx really shocked me. When I heard he was going star I was thinking this movie was going to be cheapened. I was wrong. He's a very intense actor here. He's a very different person than he is on that stupid show of his.
I liked the whiplash editing and surreal camera work. I know that pissed some people off, but I thought it was a nice change.
Overall this is a great movie with major flaws. The music mainly. And it's so long. My attention didn't falter only because Stone is such a master of holding the attention of the ADHD afflicted (even on bland subjects like Nixon). My attention span didn't feel the three hours, my ass did.