On any given Sunday there will be sold movie tickets. To this one I am not so sure.

Rating: 2/10 (3 August 2005)

Oliver Stone was one of the major wheels in the film industry in the mid-80's but lately he has been more ridiculed, no doubt because of his political stance more than for his movies.
This is the first film he's made that really has no real target, at least not if you are looking for something like a conspiracy thriller, which he of course is famous for. The theme is professional football but here his viewpoint is very hazy. Although, he shows us tons of despicable characters who are in the business end of the sport, they are really not more bad than the players who live for the sport.
Al Pacino as the aging coach has a bravura opening moment where he chews his players out for stinking up the field. He is one of those actor who can make shouting the most hilarious piece of showmanship you have ever seen. Unfortunately, that is the climax of this movie. Form there we get a long boring story about how the coach is becoming obsolete, as is his star player, Cap (played by a sleepwalking Dennis Quaid). The owner of the football team (played by Cameron Diaz in a totally unsympathetic part) wants more sponsorship and is usually thinking of financial gain which disgusts the Pacino character. Despite this rather dry storyline there is a bright spot. Cap gets an injury and is replaced by a third-stringer named Willie (played by recent Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx). He makes a total ass of himself when he vomits on open camera in his first game but then the team wins and the coach and Willie are quick to think that it has something to do with the puking. Could there be any more superstitious twerps? This ritual is totally played for laughs by Stone and that is refreshing since he normally gets very dour and has a rather tepid sense of humour.
Another actor who has virtually become a staple in Stone's films is James Woods and he chews up the scenery as a crooked team doctor but he is not really a major character in this film. Stone is more interested in exploring the age thing this time, not crooked politics. Too bad, because I was about to give the movie my full attention when he showed up on screen. The age thing also concerns the relationship between Pacino and Foxx, not that he is black as Foxx claims. He is arrogant, greedy and totally self-absorbed until he learns a lesson and then makes the usual 180 degree turn at the end.
The football scenes are played out as noisy, confusing and violent extravaganzas and one would think that made it exciting. Not in my opinion but it is far better watching that than the interval scenes which bears little resemblance to anything than a session at a psychiatrist. I heard that Stone got scathing reviews for his epic "Alexander" also but I haven't see that yet so I will simply say that Stone should have stuck to doing films about subjects nearer to his heart because the only thing we see here is an outsider who is more fascinated by the subject than knowledgeable.