Did Manchester win?

Rating: 3/10 (12 August 2003)

I'm an absolute sport addict but even I would be the first to admit that very rarely is sport the basis for a good film. This was no exception.

I don't particularly like American Football (I find the idea of using pads & crash helmets in a contact sport a bit like swimmers using a boat) but each to their own, I like sports like cricket which others rightly find tedious. What does annoy me is how America continually export American Football and expect the rest of the world to not only understand it but enjoy it. Fair enough present the film to a U.S market but not a worldwide one. England does not export films about cricket, nor do Scotland with log throwing, Australia with Aussie rules or Pakistan with Kabadi etc. Yet as sure as night follows day you can rely on an American Football film being released in every country each year.
This was not an awful film but nor was it very good. Lots of shouting, lots of swearing, lots of technical jargon, sex and nudity, although at least with the latter of those 5, it was great to see another barrier broken with a woman around some naked fellers which happens all over the world but is still a taboo area on the tele. But despite that Cameron Diaz (as good a actress as she is did not suit her role at all). In real life women in senior sporting positions 99% of the time appear convincing and suited to what they do. Unfortunately in films and on the tele they hardly ever do. I'm not sure why but it seems the script writers try too hard and give them too much technical jargon, when in normal life the female directors and coaches like male ones aren't rattling on 24/7 about off sides, play offs, free kicks and the like.
To an outsider to American Football there just didn't seem to be any coherence to this film. It appeared we joint the film somewhere around the beginning / middle of a season and it ended about half a dozen games later still mid season? There didn't seem to be a natural beginning or end to the film. And the Sharks seemed to lose a lot of matches yet find themselves still involved in a seemingly crucial game at the end, which I couldn't fathom out at all. Though I could be completely wrong but then that was the problem. The first 20 minutes went way over my head and throughout the film, I could only guess what side was scoring and winning purely by the reaction of Pacino or the opposing coach. Also, as far as I could work out, in the final scenes a perfectly good touchdown was disallowed by the ref because there was a yellow duster or tea towel on the field of play, which obviously signified something I didn't comprehend. There were also occasions when I wasn't sure to laugh or not (like the guys' eye falling out or James Foxx being sick) or maybe these were serious.
The exception to all this is Remember the Titans which was an absolutely awesome film. I'm not sure why that worked so well and this one didn't, but Remember the Titans seemed to know how to present American Football to the overseas viewer far better than Any Given Sunday. For a start there was less on field action in The Titans and what scenes were on the Grid Iron were easier to understand to those unfamiliar which a seemingly complex set of laws.
But as I said, not an awful film, there was no problem with the acting per se and I hacked it through to the end. I just wasn't sure which team won.
3/10