Despite solid (if not great) performances from a good cast, practically everything else is wrong with this down-the-years story of embattlement and disillusionment.

Direction, script and treatment all make the narrative far too fragmentary and never dig below the surface to stir our emotions - or those of the characters.

Dennis Quaid is the star footballer whose life and career gradually but surely go down the tubes.

He's the best thing in the film, although somewhat mysteriously second-billed below Jessica Lange, who doesn't give much to the role of the blonde cheerleader who becomes his wife.

Quaid's appearance at the end - bloated, thick-limbed and near alcoholic - is brilliant, but, even with his enthusiasm for the role, the storyline never holds your attention for more than a minute or two at a time.