Any Given Sunday

THE SKINNY
Veteran football coach fights hotshot QB and hot owner.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Don’t worry if you get there late, but certainly stay through the end.

THE FULL REVIEW
Throughout the first 20 minutes of Any Given Sunday, I had the less-than-pleasurable experience of feeling like I was being forced to watch a football game in which I had no rooting interest with my face pressed up against the television screen. The film opens with the audience placed in the middle of the frenetic action on the field (and I mean right in the middle) during a Miami Sharks football game. Much of writer-director Oliver Stone’s desired effect is wasted, however, since all of this action is presented without context.

During the game, the Sharks supposed aging star quarterback Jack “Cap” Rooney, played by Dennis Quaid (Dragon Heart, The Big Easy, Breaking Away), is sidelined after receiving a crushing hit. When Rooney’s backup is knocked out of the game on the very next play, the team must look to its third-string QB, Willie Beaman, played by Jamie Foxx (The Jamie Foxx Show, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Booty Call). The audience is introduced to Beamon as he sits on the sidelines, with his helmet off, immersed in the Sunday newspaper (as if Stone were attempting to say to the audience, “O.K., you were right to be bored with my movie thus far”).

After shrugging off a shaky start, the relatively unknown Beaman surprises everyone with his dazzling moves on the field. While this new “star” quarterback lifts the Sharks chances of making the playoffs, his cocky and insolent attitude don’t sit well with head coach Tony D’Amato, played by Al Pacino (The Insider, Scent Of A Woman, Glengarry Glen Ross). Sparks begin to fly when team owner Christina Pagnacci, played by Cameron Diaz (Being John Malkovich, There’s Something About Mary, The Mask), who blindly embraces Beamon’s winning ways, challenges D’Amato over team management.

The pace and quality of the film pick up significantly with each new character that Stone and co-writer John Logan introduce to the audience. As terrific as the on-field action in this movie may be (in a recent USA Today article about the making of Any Given Sunday, CBS’ Randy Cross is quoted as saying, “The football action is extremely well done, as good as anything I’ve seen on team sports in a movie.”), frankly, I get to see enough of it – up-close instant replays and all – on CBS, FOX and ABC every Sunday and Monday.

What one hopes for in a movie such as Any Given Sunday, is a realistic behind-the-scenes look into the lives of professional football players and personnel. How do these guys handle fame? What do they do with all that money at such a young age? How hot are the women they’re bringing home with them every single night? And perhaps even, what makes someone with seemingly everything going for them, feel the need to beat or even kill their girlfriend or wife? Stone does a pretty good job of tackling several such issues in Any Given Sunday, including the constant pressure to play while injured, the downside of instant celebrity status, front office politics, how veteran athletes cope with aging, player-coach dynamics, etc.

While the film’s huge ensemble cast featured such acting heavyweights as Al Pacino, James Woods (The General’s Daughter, Ghosts of Mississippi, Against All Odds) and Anne Margret (Grumpy Old Men, Tommy), as well as veteran actors Dennis Quaid, Lauren Holly (Beautiful Girls, Picket Fences) and Matthew Modine (Married to the Mob, Full Metal Jacket, Vision Quest), Jamie Foxx was the film’s standout performer. Not only could Foxx more than handle the football scenes (he played quarterback in highschool), but he demonstrated surprising range as he convincingly portrayed Beamon’s maturation process during the course of the film. Also giving notable performances were Lawrence Taylor, who was actually quite persuasive in his role as an aging star linebacker and Elizabeth Berkely’s breasts, who demonstrated that they could hold their own in the presence of acting great Al Pacino. Speaking of Mr. Pacino, he was, well, Al Pacino – ranting and raving as always, but fun to watch nonetheless. As for Cameron Diaz, after disappointing so terribly in Being John Malkovich, she returned to doing what she does best – looking great!

In the end, while not quite in the league of Platoon, Wall Street or Born on the Fourth of July, Any Given Sunday is a significant rebound for Oliver Stone from the 1997 disaster, U-Turn.

By: Craig Ettinger