Just Tell the Story

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2001)

Oliver Stone refuses to let a good story get in the way of his razzle-dazzle directing technique in `Any Given Sunday.' In chronicling four games late in the season of the fictitious Miami Sharks, he touches on everything he thinks is wrong with pro football: Violence, sex, injuries, drugs, racism, individualism, servitude and the economics that force a city to build a stadium or lose its team. He tells his story through a combination of quick cuts, slow motion, split/screen, music videos-even the interspersing of scenes from `Ben-Hur,' whose star Charlton Heston makes a cameo in this film.
Stone also has a thing for stunt casting. A bit of this, especially in sports films, is okay. And a few of the castings here, such as Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown, work. But every opposing coach is a former NFL star-Johnny Unitas, Dick Butkus, etc.-and Stone doesn't realize their familiar faces only distract viewers and drives home the point that we're not dealing with reality.
Stone casts Al Pacino as Sharks' coach Tony D'Amato. But Pacino continues a habit he has picked up over the years of screaming almost every line. Watch Pacino's understated performances in the first two `Godfather' films, then imagine what it would be like if any older Michael Corleone were coaching the Sharks. Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz, James Woods and John McGinley fare better in their roles. And Jamie Foxx shines as the third string quarterback who Pacino must nurture to maturity.
Finally, the movie ends by giving the Shark's Dallas opponents the worse looking football uniforms anyone has ever seen, and with Pacino announcing a decision that catches his team off guard-something that could never happen in the real world.
The best football film ever made was 1979's `North Dallas Forty.' It covered much the same ground as `Any Given Sunday,' and even had its own bit of stunt casting (using current and former NFL stars in some roles). But it didn't let the director's technique get in the way of the story. My advice: Rent that film instead of this one.