Oliver Stone's take on American Football

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2010)

Oliver Stone did his homework on this one. He dug up everything he possibly could that can be construed as negative about pro football in the USA and then exaggerated it (where possible). The money, the egos, the nepotism, the media's affect, the personality conflicts, etc, etc. Suffice it to say, he did have a lot to work with. What kept this movie from being a classic was the extreme heavy-handedness of it. Maybe it was his goal to beat us over the head with his vision of the world of pro football but it was too much for me. Most aspects deserved to be exposed without 'sugar-coating' or tactful delivery but I just can't help feeling that some of the messages could have been better delivered with subtlety, trusting the viewers intelligence to see and understand the problem without the overbearing nature of the film.
The cast was excellent, Pacino was as good as I've ever seen him, Jamie Foxx, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, and even James Woods were all very good and casting Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown worked beautifully.
Like all Oliver Stone movies, it ran long but the last half hour or so might have been the best part of the movie (as it should be) so that isn't a negative aspect in this case.
Basically, if you know that this is an Oliver Stone dissection of pro football and you know anything about either of those topics, you know what kind of experience you're in for.
But that's just my two scents. ;)