A college basketball coach is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive and it leads him into dangerous ethical compromises.
Watching various hoop stars and legends trying to act is cringeworthy, O'Neal particularly bad, but Friedkin's movie, written by sports film specialist Shelton has a lot of passion.
Worth seeing for Nolte's force-of-nature performance and the novelty of Shaq "emoting."
Washington Post
January 01, 2000
The filmmakers don't get the ball into the Shaq-man's hands enough -- both literally and figuratively -- to make this personable giant's screen debut memorable.
If Mr. Friedkin didn't have to work so strenuously framing two-shots of Mr. Nolte with this seven-foot athlete, it might be hard to remember that Mr. O'Neal has a day job.
Washington Post
January 01, 2000
If it wasn't for some exciting roundball action, Shaquille O'Neal's hulking-dunking presence and a wonderfully guttural performance from coach Nick Nolte, you'd slither off the bench asleep.
Much of the movie's problem, I suspect, comes from the vast use of non-professionals in dramatic roles, whose charismatic abilities should be restricted to the basketball court and not the dramatic arena.
