Any Given Sunday (1999)

[baumer]

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[baumer]

Love or hate Oliver Stone for his beliefs and the way he films them ( Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the 4th of July, JFK, Nixon) you have to say one thing about the man; he is a brilliant artist/director. What Oliver Stone sees, we see, what Oliver Stone feels, we can at least feel most of it. JFK is one of the best films ever made and a lot of that has to be attributed to his work/vision. It is a unique film and not just because of what it stands for but because how it was made. There were certain scenes in that film where you couldn't tell what was 35 or 16mm filmstock and what was archived footage. That authenticity, that care and devotion into that film made it ( in my opinion ) one of the 3 best films ever made ( Jaws and American Beauty sandwiching it on my list of best films ever). While Any Given Sunday is not one of the best films ever made it is certainly one of the best that has come out this year. Oliver Stone has done to professional football ( and perhaps all major North American sports ) what he did to politics and the government in JFK and Platoon. He has dissected it and exposed it for what it really is. As football fans, all we see is the gloss, the glamour, the spotlights, the charity devoted athletes, the replays, the larger than life personalities and great athleticism. What we don't see, even though we know about it in dark corners is what Stone has shown us here, in this excellent film.

I read a few articles about this film and one of them said that Stone spent five years researching this movie to get it right and be true to what he is saying. And if you look at what and who is involved here and what is not involved here, then you have to believe that what he is saying has some merit to it.

You have the participation of some of the games past greats like L.T. and Jim Brown and some of the games future greats like Ricky Williams that participated in the filming of the movie and they swear by what Stone has filmed. They concur with the fact that corruption, drug abuse, womanizing, commercialism, greed and selfishness is just a euphanism for what football is all about. Then you also have the non participation and non co-operation of the NFL when it came to using football names and even their logo. To me that says that they don't want to be associated with this film because it is slanderous to what they want you to believe. But look closely and listen even closer and everything that you see in here may be closer to the truth than what you thought.

What Any Given Sunday has is a great cast and one hell of a lead. Al Pacino could read the phonebook and make it interesting somehow. His portrayal of Tony D'Amato is so compelling and so honest that I really felt as though I knew this man. There are so many tiny moments of grace for him in this role but the best that I have seen him in quite sometime was when he gave one particular speech to his team just before their potential last game of the season. He was trying to preach that you have to win as a team and lose as a team. He was preaching team unity and telling everyone that it is time to get rid of individualism that exists in the locker room. It is a speech that starts out humbly enough but steamrolls into what Oscars are made of. I wanted to suit up and play for him after that speech. I suspect that Al Pacino will get an Oscar nomination for his role in The Insider but this is the film that he deserves it for. I still don't think there is a better performance this year than Kevin Spacey in American Beauty but this is definitely a distant second. In this film he is Tony D'Amato.

The rest of the cast is also quite impressive and I have to say that casting Cameron Diaz in the second biggest role in the film was risky. But she shows that she is more than just a pretty face in Hollywood. There were many scenes where she bantered with Pacino for pages and pages of script and she comes across beautifully. Jamie Foxx is also excellent in the film. There is one small role that I wanted to mention because even though Lauren Holly has a brief appearance as Dennis Quaid's wife, she steals many scenes that she is in. There is one particular scene where she tells Cap ( Quaid ) that he is not ready to retire, that he is the bleepin quarterback for the Miami Sharks and that she won't listen to this crap from him right now. I seriously wanted to leap through the screen and slap her and the rest of the theater felt the same way. Her character is just as selfish as any of the others in the film and she should be recognized for doing it so well.

The one thing that is glaringly wrong with the film is some of the smashmouth editting. There are times when the cuts are so fast and furious that you have a hard time seeing what is going on during the games. This would have been better if the game was shown with more clarity and precision. The MTV generation doesn't have to dictate editting techniques in an Oliver Stone film. That is the only complaint that I have with the film but unfortunately it is a big one and it does detract from the overall aesthetic of it. When the story is told and we are allowed to get involved with it completely then it is a great film. However when it becomes a showcase for quick cuts to rock and roll music and the occasional gangsta rap, it becomes annoying. I really wish the editting wasn't so dominant because the film would have been so much better.

Any Given Sunday is a great film and it is one that should be seen by everyone that has a mild interest in sports. There is much to be learned from it and most importantly it is one hell of an entertaining film.

8 out of 10

[baumer]

Well, clearly my view of Diaz in this film has changed.  I've seen this film recently and she is not good at all.