First Rate Actors, 90s Clichés

Rating: 5/10 (11 February 2013)

I will try to not parrot what has already been said about the movie, for better or worse. I have nothing against the actors of the feature film. They were the best of the best in that genre and generation. My issue is with all the product placement and overall marketing that the film is bombarded with ranging from Reebok, Apple Jacks, NFL and I don't know how many other products. If one is not discerning, one can fall for it and feel like ESPN is the ultimate authority in sports and that the NFL is the best thing that there is. I won't question the integrity of these entities because that's not what this review is about. The cameos from real life corporate executives further reinforced the marketing at play her. I just think that it would have felt more artistic and original to have come up with a pretend organization resembling the ones mentioned so that the viewer is not resold on the idea that big corporations truly benefit humanity and actually constitute a culture.
For a movie about redemption and love, there is the underlying message that money and materialism is the agent that facilitates can destroy and redeem you. This may be true, and I am no bleeding heart; but movies should not always reinforce the obvious.
One of the more positive aspects of the movie was seeing the Tidwell's as a normal and married black couple rather than bickering losers having illegitimate offspring. You could see Crowe's sensitivity and trying to elevate the dialogue without being soppy.
I think what made this movie so zeitgeist was that it captured and incorporated the rampant and materialism of the 1990s. This decade was more greedy than the 80s because suddenly actors and athletes had the fattest paychecks simply for being entertainers. They suddenly became royalty. This decade was the beginning of the endorsement culture that blew up in the 2000s. The general public truly believed that bigger was better and resented being told otherwise. SUV's, designer clothes, limitless credit cards, supersized meals and Venti sized coffee's were almost a requirement.
If you want to see a well acted film you will not be disappointed. I recommend looking at the movie with a grain of salt and detaching oneself from the underlying capitalist and elitist message that it sends.