Stone's Take On Professional American Football

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2011)

Any Given Sunday is a sports drama film that depicts a fictional professional American football team. The film features an ensemble cast that consists of Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, John C. McGinley, Charlton Heston, Ann-Margret, Lauren Holly, Bill Bellamy, Lela Rochon, Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Berkley, Marty Wright, and legendary NFL players Jim Brown and Lawrence Taylor.Aside from that,it also featured many American football players including Dick Butkus, Y.A. Tittle, Pat Toomay, Warren Moon, Johnny Unitas, Ricky Watters, Emmitt Smith and Terrell Owens together with American football coach Barry Switzer. It was co-written and directed by Oliver Stone.
Tony D'Amato, the head coach of the Miami Sharks, won back-to-back championships four years ago. But new team owner Christina Pagniacci has little enthusiasm for the finer points of the game and is concerned only with the bottom line. The longtime strongman of Tony's team has been "Cap" Rooney, a 39-year-old quarterback, but Christina balks at renewing his contract. When Cap is injured during a game, third-string rookie quarterback Willie Beaman goes on in his place and becomes a major star. But Beaman is mostly interested in fame and money, and he has little regard for Tony and his teammates.
The film tries its best to depict professional American football as it looks at the best and the worst on the sport.Although the performances of the actors are far from disappointing,the film becomes an exercise of clichés and unoriginal ideas required by the plot.Also,the film does not focus on the primary theme it wants to focus on or the message it wants to convey about pro football despite of the passionate performances and brilliant film making from Stone.Overall,Any Given Sunday still entertains and remains an enjoyable sports film.