So much sound & fury, signifying nothing

Rating: 6/10 (1 April 2001)

I really like Oliver Stone's movies and I have nothing against football, but this movie didn't really work for me. It was so loud and so frenetic, yet it didn't really hide that there was nothing much going on except the usual sports-movie hijinks. I expect more of Oliver Stone, and he usually delivers. The characters aren't sympathetic, but at the same time you can't really hate them. Yeah, they're all self-centered, but you can hardly blame them for trying to keep their own butts covered, given the people they're surrounded by. 'Sharks' was a fitting team name here. If this movie has a point, it's simply a portrait of the thirst for money and power that abounds in pro sports. That's what all of these characters are after, one way or another. Even the characters that should be likable- like Dennis Quaid's- come off as desperate and greedy. I suppose Al Pacino's character was supposed to be 'our hero'- after all, are old, white, male football coaches ever supposed to be anything but noble?- but I found him a good deal more distasteful even that the characters played by Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx, both of whom I suspect I was supposed to dislike, either a lot- Christina- or a little- Willie. She, supposedly, would 'eat her young' for being a tough team-owner trying to make her franchise work, and he's a jerk for trying to look after himself in a world that certainly isn't going to look after him on his behalf. On the positive side of things, the performances- one and all- were terrific. This was really a good ensemble cast, and they all seemed to have latched onto their characters and realized that the selfishness inherent in every one of them is both loathsome and understandable. I give praise to the actors and the realistic portrayal of pro-football injuries, stress, and excess, but this movie quite simply collapses under the weight of it's own artifice. It's a heavy, slick veneer over a shell of a film that is, essentially, empty.