Any Given Sunday

Directed by: Oliver Stone Written by: John Logan and Stone Starring: Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, James Woods, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, Dennis Quaid Just dismal. I am a fan of Stone's, but here he seems to be desperately struggling for relevance in a Michael Bay world. The movie was so awful I walked out before the end. I just couldn't take it any more. The picture has none of the subversive charge that usually energizes his work (“JFK,” “Natural Born Killers,” etc.); indeed, he gives up the ghost from the start, by naming his picture after one of the hoariest clichés in sports ("...on any given Sunday... blah... blah... blah...") which he then has the gall (and the poor instincts) to actually have one of his characters (Pacino's) SAY in the course of the film... and not ironically, either. What, is this supposed to convince me that Stone is a football expert? That he has some special insight into the attitudes and philosophy of NFL players and coaches? Please. Pacino, who was great in “The Insider,” struggles here, gnawing on his wretched lines like a man eating overcooked steak. It's not his fault; the nonsense he is forced to spout would sink any actor.

I didn't buy into a single thing he said or did during the entire movie, not the pep talks with Foxx (who, as the young phenom quarterback, is actually the best thing in the picture), nor his rants at Cameron Diaz (playing the B-school debutante who inherited the team from her father). Diaz, by the way, is also misused. It's not that she acts badly, exactly; it's just that they dress her like a Calvin Klein model and make her look so attractive that it's very hard to take her character seriously. Anyone who is as smart as Diaz's character is supposed to be would recognize that her looks were a distraction and act accordingly. (Either that or use them to her advantage.) What bothered me most though was the sheer murkiness of it all. Movies should help you see things more clearly, not less, but Stone shoots about half of this picture in the dark. We get no sense of scale, of the vastness that is an NFL extravaganza these days. He barrages us with NOISE! and CONFUSION! and QUICK CUTS!, all of which make it virtually impossible to tell what the hell is going on during the games.

As a result, it looks cheap, like it was shot by a film school student who couldn't afford to go on location. Stone seems to think that if he makes everything hard to see, we won't notice how threadbare the picture actually is. It doesn't work. You'll have more fun, and learn more about football, by watching a game on TV. (1/25/00)