Louder than bombs...

Rating: 3/10 (20 November 2011)

Not really my type of film, but I gave it a go. It's brash, in your face, very loud, a typical modern Hollywood mix of profanity and morality. I had no connection at all with any of the main characters or their situations, I mean I could care less about the contractual expectations of US sports stars and as for the somewhat forced romance of Tom Cruise's maverick sports agent and his acolyte Renee Zelwegger and her, shall I say, "professorial" five year old kid, (I'm being kind, I almost thought a grown-up actor was playing the role, so un-child-like was the boy's performance, never mind the dialogue he's given to speak).
And no, I didn't like Cuba Gooding's over-the-top performance as Cruise's only remaining client after he alienates his former employer and co-workers with a mass-circulated touchy-feely "mission statement" to cleanse his conscience and soul. Talking loud and saying nothing, as James Brown once said. There were a few good lines and situations but these were hopelessly outnumbered by many more which were poorly conceived and executed and while I understand ex-Rolling Stone magazine writer Cameron Crowe filling up the soundtrack with 60's and 70's tracks by the Who, Stones and McCartney, none of the songs has any relevance to anything in the film.
As for the acting, it was universally flashy and shouty, with no exceptions and you can see each of the leads acting if you watch closely enough. For a far more incisive and entertaining exposé of the soft white underbelly of sports and at a deeper level, morality at large, I'd suggest viewers look at Billy Wilder's "The Fortune Cookie" instead.