The production is a most realistic, hard-hitting and perceptive look at the seamy side of pro football.
– ,
Variety,
14 Mar 2007
fresh:
The leading man, Nick Nolte, has a physical authority and a clowning, irreverent manner that lend the film some semblance of continuity, even when it's about to flounder.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
9 May 2005
rotten:
Something of a mess, both in terms of the wayward plot which rambles all over the place, and in terms of the rather muddled juggling of audience sympathies.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
The football scenes are brutally real; the locker room scenes are totally authentic.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
21 Mar 2007
fresh:
Retains enough of the original novel's authenticity to deliver strong, if brutish, entertainment.