Stone Lowers The Bar

Rating: 4/10 (4 January 2001)

It's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game. Football as a metaphor for life; you have to fight for every inch, on the field, as in life. Or perhaps on the `playing' field that `is' life. Take your pick, you get the idea; whatever you choose you can bet it's a concept director Oliver Stone apparently seems to think he originated in his over-long, self-indulgent miasma `Any Given Sunday,' starring Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz and Dennis Quaid. A decent movie? Yes. Original? No. Stone pulls out every cliche in the book, twists it all like so much play dough to put his own spin on it and serves it up like so many hot dogs you can buy at the stadium while you watch his fictitious Miami Sharks play. The recipe for this particular potpourri includes the quarterback willing to play-through-the-pain-for-the-team; the third-stringer whose success goes to his head; discrimination; locker room scene after locker room scene that play like, well, locker room scenes; players with names like `Madman,' `Beastman,' `J-Man,' `Shark' and `Cap;' a ruthless, young General Manager/owner who inherited the position from her father; the unethical team physician whose diagnoses of injured players coincide with the needs of the team; the young, ethical assistant team physician; and the legendary coach who just wants to inspire his team and win one more. The title of this film could have been `Any Given Sports Film.' All of which may seem contradictory after stating that this is a `decent' film. Perhaps. But understand that by decent I mean that this movie was, if nothing else, a professional endeavor that was packaged and delivered in a way you would expect from the star-studded cast Stone assembled here. The problem lies with Stone, whose work on this project fairly rings of arrogance and self aggrandizement. All of the aforementioned `potpourri' ingredients, for instance, are actually legitimate aspects of this story; but in Stone's hands the legitimate comes across as cliche, while any attempt at profundity seems merely pretentious. His endless use of slow motion photography during the game sequences ultimately has a nullifying effect on the drama it is, I assume, meant to enhance; and it's a perfect example of the excesses he allowed himself that give this movie the sense of pretending to be something it is not. It's a case of the artist who is too close to his work being given too much freedom, or in this case, enough rope with which to hang himself. Pacino is a star, always larger than life, with an incomparable screen presence from whom we've come to expect a certain quality of performance. And here, as Coach Tony D'Amato, he certainly does not disappoint. That his character lacks originality is not his fault; it's the part he was given and he makes the most of it. To his credit he keeps him interesting, even though this is a guy you've seen a number of times in just as many movies. Cameron Diaz does not fare as well; she simply was not given the time necessary to develop her character, Christina Pagniacci (The time was available, but Stone chose to use it for yet nine or ten more slow-mo close-ups of a hand reaching, reaching, reaching for a football prominently featuring the `Wilson' brand), and Dennis Quaid fell victim as well with his portrayal of Cap Rooney. Jamie Foxx fared as well as anyone involved as third-string quarterback Willie Beamen, and there are some notable supporting performances from Lawrence Taylor (Shark), LL Cool J (J-Man) James Woods (Dr. Mandrake), Matthew Modine (Dr. Powers) and Ann-Margret (Margaret Pagniacci). Charlton Heston, however, is wasted in a cameo as the Commissioner of the League. Some would say you do not necessarily have to like football to like this movie; that may be true. Subjectively, I would say that to like this movie at all, you must approach it with very low expectations (and it certainly wouldn't hurt if you did like football). As I see it, with `Any Given Sunday' Oliver Stone lowered the bar and allowed himself to step over the line, which is especially disappointing in light of the fact that this is the director who gave us such excellent, thought-provoking films as `Platoon,' `JFK,' and `Born On The Fourth Of July.' And in the future, I'm sure he'll add more titles to that list; unfortunately, this film will not be one of them. I rate this one 4/10.