One of the all-time best football flicks

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 1999)

First, a tip to those who can't stand Oliver Stone movies yet keep going to see them, only to show up in here and gripe about them: no, Oliver Stone is not going to make a "normal"-looking movie. He's not going to make his movies to look exactly like every other mindless chunk of garbage that shows up at the Cineplex Odeon. If you don't like his style, stop watching the movies. :-)
On to "Any Given Sunday". Frankly, I thought it was great. The performances were superb (even Stone himself as a sportscaster) and as always I found myself constantly being kept on my toes by Stone's visual style, particularly the football footage.
Stone does an excellent job of capturing the essence of the game by giving us rapidly-edited high-speed footage. Most of it is very "in-close" and claustrophobic, and the intensity level is completely off the scale. This frantic, chaotic feel is complemented by background music cranked to a level of discomfort. This should give people a good idea what it's like to actually be a participant in a good old-fashioned smash-mouth football game.
I didn't think Cameron Diaz could play a villain, I really didn't. Surprise, surprise, surprise, folks. She comes through with a bald-faced viciousness that raised my eyebrows on more than a few occasions. (However, it should be kept in mind that I *also* didn't think Angela Lansbury would make a good villain, and "The Manchurian Candidate" proved me very wrong in THAT instance.)
Pacino is, as always, Mr. Badass. This time around, he's Mr. Badass with a heart and feelings. He means business when he sets foot on the field, and he takes it hard when he is criticized. All in all, a very believable performance.
And as far as the length of the film goes... GOOD. I LIKE long movies. If a movie can hold my attention for three hours without letting me get up to smoke a cigarette or take a leak, then I consider it a success.
The bottom line: I rank it right up there with "North Dallas Forty" and "The Longest Yard". Never mind all this other nebulous junk like "The Waterboy", "Varsity Blues", and "The Program." "Any Given Sunday" is where it's at.
Oh, and I *do* have one complaint about the movie: whoever decided on the color schemes for the various football teams' uniforms (particularly the Dallas "Knights") needs to be tested for color-blindness.