OK, but WAY overdone

Rating: 6/10 (4 January 2000)

Well, Oliver Stone has gotten Vietnam out of his system, now it's time to take on pro football. POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!! OK story (young, excellent quarterback tries to take over team from the coach) but that's about it. Stone treats this story like it's big news (Football is corrupt!!!! No kidding); he constantly cuts from one image to another VERY quickly--too quickly; women are treated as either b****es, sex objects, prostitutes or just nice scenary; EVERY football scene is shot closeup, so that it's impossible to tell what's going on, with bone-crunching sound; and at the very end every single major character COMPLETELY, with no discernable reason, becomes nice and forgiving and leaves us with a big old happy ending! The acting is good (especially Diaz and Pacino) but they're all playing stock characters. Also Diaz's character is treated very cruely at the end--memo to Oliver Stone: STOP HATING WOMEN SO MUCH! Ann-Margret, Mathew Modine and James Woods are all as good as they possibly can be, but are totally wasted in secondary roles--Woods only has two scenes! Also the film is too long--2 hours and 40 minutes. If you're desperate for a football film, this is for you. Otherwise, stay away---FAR away!