The usual Oliver Stone treatment

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2001)

If you've ever seen more than three Oliver Stone-directed movies, they all start to look and feel the same. You can tell one without even seeing the credits. He is not really interested in how you feel or how his characters feel so his movies are usually very entertaining but emotionally barren.
This epic is no exception. It did not matter a damn to me what happened to anyone in the movie, which is unfortunate since you are spending over 2 1/2 hours with these people.
Too many scenes are redundant - Al getting wasted at the course of his life, at least three/four times? He was starting to remind me of "Scarface" and I was waiting for a speech to go along with his misery. OK, I get it, he's discontent. I don't need a brick wall to fall on me to get that point across.
Of the gigantic cast, only Dennis Quaid actually looks like a football player. Jamie Foxx has some great moments and some not so great. I thought Al Pacino was wildly miscast but it was great to see him again, and I enjoyed a couple of his scenes with Ann-Margret. Cameron Diaz was completely one-note, as was James Woods and Lauren Holly. Lela Rochon comes off best out of the 'wives/girlfriends' contingent.
This is not a big deal, but it kind of bothered me...at one point, Al is watching "Ben-Hur" and you get to see several scenes from that movie, including star Charlton Heston. Later in the movie, Heston shows up as the Commissioner! Granted, he's forty years older now, but still...was Gregory Peck too busy? Its a three minute cameo, someone else should be been hired to avoid the distraction.
But if you're not that excited about the movie you're watching, something like this can give you something to think about, though.