Pretty Enjoyable Football Story

Rating: 7/10 (23 September 2001)

Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday" creates its story from within the inner workings of a professional football team. Mr. Stone is more restrained (for him at least), and doesn't go as over-the-top with his story a la "JFK" or visually a la "Natural Born Killers". Though, his editing still might give Grandma a headache. Plot-wise Mr. Stone tells a straightforward football story, and does it well. He gets lots of help from his actors, especially Al Pacino as the embattled coach, and Cameron Diaz, who is surprisingly good as the young, inept team owner. As rentals go, I put this on my Recommended list, but it does not aspire to, nor achieve greatness. This is sad, because regardless of the fact that "Any Given Sunday" is a decent movie, Stone can do much better.