Monday Night Mayhem (2002)

Monday Night Morass

When the central character of a movie is a famous person with a very familiar public face, the success of a film biopic often hinges on the portrayer's ability to become that celebrity. In the baseball film 61*, Barry Pepper is the incarnation of Roger Maris, while Albert Finney as a most convincing Winston Churchill easily carries THE GATHERING STORM.

If only the same could be said for John Turturro's interpretation of the pivotal character in TNT's MONDAY NIGHT MAYHEM, sportscaster/commentator Howard Cosell. The slim Mr. Turturro is physically all wrong for the part of chunky Cosell. He keeps his upper lip constantly taut, exposing teeth like an alligator, and his baritone voice sounds nothing like that distinctive rollercoaster tenor of the original. All these shortcomings might have been overlooked however if the script had any sort of cohesion or logic to it.

The strained relationship between the flamboyant Cosell and boss Roone Arledge is only hinted at; the reasons for Roone's curtness aren't properly explored. Howard's broadcast booth companions, Keith Jackson, Don Meredith, Frank Gifford and OJ Simpson are empty caricatures who also bear little resemblance to the originals. The history of ABC's Monday Night Football is told in fits and starts, with a few infamous moments given fleeting screen time, as we bounce like a fumbled football toward Howard's ultimate estrangement from the TV program.

The sports fan viewer wants to like this movie, but its lack of depth, continuity, accuracy and believeable characterizations doom MONDAY NIGHT MAYHEM from the opening kickoff.


Jon Voight's Cosell imitation in the movie ALI is marginally better. Will Smith as Ali is another story, though.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film research website.

(6.5) Monday Night Mayhem (TV-2002) - John Turturro/John Heard/Kevin Anderson/Nicholas Turturro/Brad Beyer/Patti Lupone/Jay Thomas/Eli Wallach July 15, 2008

MNF - F for Football at Our Homes or Fight at the Booth

No wonder that the glory days of MNF on ABC never came back after the trio Gifford-Meredith-Cosell dismantled. Even the most uninteresting and boring games were overcame by what was not only a sport event broadcasting, but mostly a family entertainment show.

We tend to think that all peers who work together actually get along, when we see many examples, like this one, that this is not entirely true. The battle of egos got worse every new week, and the relationship of the trio amongst each other and also with other spheres at ABC Network is the main idea of the film. Fortunately we, the audience, didn't really notice any kind of tension while they were commenting, but I must admit that if an on-the-air harsh discussion happened, this would also be entertaining to me...

This is a behind-the-scenes of one of the most popular TV Shows in America. One that revolutionized the way sports were broadcasted. The live-action of a football game shown in every detail possible. The entertainment side that no one had ever thought about until it happened. The model that sometimes tries to show up again on ESPN, but not with the same brilliancy of the past.

This DVD is a must-see, no matter if you are a lover of the MNF show and/or the sports history and/or the television history. March 24, 2008

Monday Night Mayhem

To say this movie sucked is to make a new lower standard for the word suck.This was an hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back.This movie made me want to buy a gun and rent a bullet.I had more fun on movie night in the state pen.Not only do I not recommend this movie I would recommend never seeing any movie starring these people again. June 8, 2007

Wow!

Even though I wasn't around at the time Howard, "Dandy", Frank, and a host of other Monday Night Football commentators were entertaining the continent, I have a large interest in sports history and found this movie an amazing dramatization of this classic television program. This is a wonderful movie based on the lives of the men that made football one of the greatest sports on Earth! August 6, 2004

One of the best sports movies out there

I recently witnessed ESPN's "25 Greatest Sports Movies of the Last 25 Years" going back to 1979. This film was not on that list for obvious reasons -- it portrays a warts and all image of Monday Night Football, showing Howard Cosell's drunkenness in Philadelphia to Chet Forte's gambling addiction to the insensitive way Roone Arledge replaced Keith Jackson with Frank Gifford after one season calling "Monday Night Football".

It even shows Cosell (portrayed by the outstanding character actor John Turturro) taking off his toupee in one scene. In another scene, Cosell boils over after talking head Gifford continues to refer to Dallas Cowboys safety Dennis Thurman as Thurman Munson.

"Didn't Thurman Munson die in 1979," Cosell asks a producer after Gifford goofs another call during a broadcast. "So how is he making all these tackles?!"

So ESPN's "25 best sports films" could not embarrass its ownership (ABC) by giving credence to this movie. But you should give credence to it at your earliest opportunity. It is by turns informative, entertaining, funny and melancholy. It has all the ingredients of real life and television that make both so interesting.

TNT was praised and criticized for this production and seems to have responded by no longer programming it. That is a pity for this is one of the most truthful movies about professional football since "North Dallas Forty", the Pete Gent book made into a feature film about the Dallas Cowboys of the 1970s.

There is one direct parallel between the films -- Don Meredith. He was portrayed in both movies as something of a buffoon. Was he? I don't know. But watching this movie over and over when it first came out was one of the most fun-filled events of my autumn 2002. If you enjoy sports films, this one should be in your library. July 7, 2004

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