Don't let the trailer fool you

Rating: Null/10 (15 September 2001)

Synopsis: A behind closed doors look at a football team and their ever tumultous season both on field and off. An aging football coach struggles to keep the team together while an up and coming quarterback refuses to stay down after spending time in the trenches. Meanwhile, an aging quarterback contemplates retirement after one injury too many in his career. An unethical doctor's beliefs extend to that of the team when he keeps the players on the field. The team's owner, a ruthless businesswoman with a shoot first, ask questions later attitude threatens the future of the team. All in the midst of this, the team players all battle their own conflicts.
The Review: The trailer shows you everything that gives you the impression that this is a hard hitting, no holds barred football film with raw intensity. The sounds of Kid Rock's "Bawitdaba" only foreshadows what kind of images you'll see in this film that will fuel you with testosterone. The epic scope shots of the field, the roars of the crowd, and the performances of the actors has you thinking this is going to be an unbelievable film. Unfortunately, it's nothing like that. Oliver Stone's take on the football world is nothing more than "Natural Born Killers" with a pigskin football. It's constant barrage of images filling up the screen only contributes to screwing up the film's narrative. It's because Stone wants to show us the commerical world that is football, but it's just used too much to create an impact. Shot like a football documentary, the performances are all around good, with the always satisfying Al Pacino at forefront as aging coach D'Amato, and Cameron Diaz as one woman who needs to be taken down a couple hundred notches for her ruthlessness. Dennis Quaid and James Woods are given their own space for performances and manage to create convincing characters. Woods is excellent as the ever so conniving doctor. The cast is impressive, with people such as Matthew Modine, Jim Brown, Bill Bellamy, and Aaron Eckhardt contributing worthy performances. More notably is LL Cool J as one of the players intent on playing the game and holding onto his endorsements. Jamie Foxx, a talented comedian is probably given the juiciest part of the film, and his performance is riveting as the cocky yet naive Willie Beaman, the upcoming quarterback who won't stay down. But unfortunately, if you're aiming to see "The Program", just stick with the said film, because "Any Given Sunday" is not that film. It's a political statement disguised as a ruthless sports film. Grade: B-