best football movie ever? probably

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2001)

Oliver Stone may not have outdone his personal best but "Any Given Sunday" overwhelms every other football film. Ever. Like Ted Kotcheff's "North Dallas Forty" this film attempts to cover every aspect of a major league team it can possibly handle. In Stone's hands that means a three hour movie, speaking cast of hundreds and crowd scenes bigger than "Ben Hur" except with the chariot race from old "Ben" and Charleton Heston himself thrown in for good measure. Lead actors Pacino, Quaid, Foxx, Diaz, and Jim Brown all give career high performances. Gridiron great Lawrence Taylor could make himself star with the role he turns in; and Taylor is just one of the dozens of present and past pigskin heroes Oliver honors with screen time. Stone himself even turns in a credible self mocking performance as a drunken commentator. Like most later Stone films the movie is given to excess,an extended play soundtrack, technically stunning sight and sound work and occasionally superfluous cinematic symbolism shots (i.e. the gladiator shots aren't in there by accident); but Stone goes deep and scores very big time. A commentary, a pulse pounder, a work of art, a winner.