OLIVER STONE

Bil’s rating (out of 5):   BB

USA, 1999.  Warner Bros., Ixtlan, Donners’ Company.  Screen story by Daniel Pyne, John Logan, Screenplay by John Logan, Oliver Stone.  Cinematography by Salvatore Totino.  Produced by Dan Halsted, Lauren Shuler Donner, Clayton Townsend.  Music by Richard Horowitz, Paul Kelly.  Production Design by Victor Kempster.  Costume Design by Mary Zophres.  Film Editing by Stuart Levy, Thomas J. Nordberg, Keith Salmon, Stuart Waks. 

Al Pacino plays the disgruntled, aging coach of a troubled football team owned by a tough-as-nails, monstrously evil woman (well, aren’t they all, Mr. Stone) who thinks the team needs new management. Dennis Quaid plays the team’s star quarterback, Jamie Foxx is the new star in town and Matthew Modine is the caring doctor who wishes the football players weren’t pushed so hard to damage themselves.

Scene after scene unfolds sloppily before your very eyes without ever making a statement, nor do the pieces of the multi-casted puzzle ever come together to make a complete whole. Wasted in smaller roles are Aaron Eckhart, Ann-Margret and James Woods, plus the film’s best performance (and most humane character) coming from Lela Rochon.

Berlin Film Festival:  In Competition