The ultimate game of honor, integrity, and leadership versus vanity, blood lust, and power play.
Every major character fights demons to find redemption, transformation, and victory.
Pacino as Coach Tony D Amato has the wise grizzled look, quiet ferocity, and gut wrenched longing of the general who has led his men to the ultimate triumph but whose team and personal life slide off as a season crunches to a disastrous end. The mythical Miami Sharks have lost four games in a row. LL Cool J convincingly plays a star running back about to enter the record books when Beaman steals his thunder and refuses to give him the ball. In this pattern, each major player must deal with himself and with others as the game grinds on. Glowering in the owners box and posh Miami office, strutting into the locker room, and weeping over the ghost and memory of her dead father from whom she inherited the Sharks, Cameron Diaz takes on the role of team co-owner, Christina Pagniacci.