Even Al Pacino couldn't save this muddled stereotypical mess

Rating: 5/10 (20 January 2000)

I had high hopes for "Any Given Sunday" because I am a fan of (some) sports movies, the cast looked decent, plus Pacino took my breath away in "The Insider."
Talk about a major letdown.
ASG starts off well with fast-paced football action and great cinematography. Dennis Quaid had me squirming in my seat as the injured quarterback. But then it all goes downhill from there.
With a dour plot, an array of unlikable, stereotyped characters, silly nudity/sex scenes (I nearly threw up my popcorn during one locker room scene), lousy music (how was DMX's song relevant to a game in any way?), the usual amount of misogyny expected in a film of this genre, use of the "F" word every two minutes (never mind that some couple two rows down from me was irresponsible enough to bring their 3-year old with them), cliches galore, a totally predictable ending, and the dizzying shots during the games (I guess Salvatore Totino thought this style would be exciting throughout the entire film, but it made me nauseous about halfway through), you can't help but have such a muddled, confusing work. At times the football games looked more like music videos rather than actual contests.
All that was left was a car chase to make this mess complete. There were times where I swore I was watching a Jerry Bruckheimer testosterone fest.
I would also like to know: what did the co-ed football game on the beach and #69's thankfully brief home scene with his two pit bulls have to do with the plot? It's also little things like that which sent this film swirling down the toilet.
What in God's name was up with those fake league and team logos?? They all looked like 5th-grade entries in a "Draw Your Own Logo" contest. Utterly pathetic (especially the Dallas Knights' unies). The team names were equally bad. Plus, what did the NFL-wannabe league's initials stand for? I won't comment on the cheesy TV on-screen graphics either.
The Dallas Knights' stadium looked so unrealistic, it resembled something out of arena football rather than the NFL, not to mention that no NFL team would have all that psychedelic red and yellow mess on the 50-yard line. It reminded me of "Forget Paris," where all the NBA games - with all different teams - were shot in just one arena, thus giving the atmosphere an artificial look. I particularly had a hard time believing that Pacino's team was from Miami. (Oh, by the way, during the Sharks/Knights game you'll see a brief reversed-negative shot of Quaid standing on the sidelines. Oops!)
There were a handful of roles that could have been omitted and nobody would've noticed: Lawrence Taylor as "Shark" (why does he have a nickname that matches the team name? That's like nicknaming Brad Johnson "Redskin"), Jim Brown as the fascist assistant coach, John McGinley as the sleazy sportswriter, Ann-Margret as the team owner's mother (what a waste of talent), and especially Andrew Bryniarski - who never met a 1-dimensional role he didn't like - as #69, who looked like a combination of Zangief from "Street Fighter" and the big Nazi from "Higher Learning," two equally forgettable roles of his in two equally forgettable films. Can't believe he actually got paid to play this boorish redneck.
This movie was not a total loss; I thought there were some good parts, particularly with Jamie Foxx and, surprisingly, Cameron Diaz (was her role somewhat of a dig at Georgia Frontiere? Something to think about), plus a funny scene during the ending credits, but they were shot down by pretty much everything else. The film is way too long, probably by about 45 minutes, and as a result some scenes dragged horribly (especially those annoying flashbacks). Overall, if you want to see a terrific football movie, check out "North Dallas Forty" or watch an actual game rather than waste $8 on this. Also, it's hard to respect a fictional football league that includes a team called the Houston "Cattlemen" (I'm not making this up).
Even with Al Pacino's presence, "Sunday" is a turnover on the fourth down. 5/10