Too much of too much

Rating: 4/10 (23 December 1999)

I was greatly disappointed in this movie. Any Given Sunday has a great beginning. The film starts off fast-paced with brilliant, exciting editing that puts the viewer right in the middle of the action of every play. But after a while, it becomes clear that the editing prevents the viewer from actually seeing what's going on. Everything's a blur of color.
The acting is first rate by everyone in the movie, but the writing is pedestrian. The plot covers the same territory as that of North Dallas Forty but doesn't explore the issues as well as the earlier movie. There is the same subplot involving a sleazy team Doctor willing to shoot the players up with anything to keep them going, but Stone handles the conclusion of this in an unrealistic way. And man, is this movie sexist! The scene that involves domestic violence depicts the wife of a NFL quarterback slugging her husband as hard as she can, while he just hangs his head and takes it. Yeah, right. NFL players are beaten by their wives all the time. And the final half-hour of the movie is intolerable. The inevitable climax of the Big Game is drawn out with every possible delay. A touchdown is called back, there's a penalty, there's a time out. On and on and on. I must have looked at my watch five times. There's definitely some great visuals which look good on the big screen, but I'd recommend to my friends to rent this one. That way you could put it on pause every once and a while. You definitely need a periodic break from this movie.