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Any Given Sunday
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Dennis
Quaid |
| MPAA Rated: |
R |
| Released By: |
Warner
Bros. |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Nope. Very adult story line. |
| Date Movie: |
You make her watch football every Sunday, do you
think you should force her to watch any more? |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Some. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
It's about
football - there's some violence. |
| Action: |
It's about
football - there's some action. |
| Laughs: |
A chuckle here and
there. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
Nothing sticks
out. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Nothing sticks
out. |
| Directed By: |
Oliver Stone |
| Produced By: |
Lauren Shuler Donner, Clayton Townsend, Dan
Halsted |
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Any Given Sunday
A Movie Review |
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This may sound petty, but the main problem I had with "Any
Given Sunday" was the fact that the football action
sequences sucked. The story was alright, Jamie Foxx did a
great job as the coming-of-age quarterback, and when does Al Pacino ever give a bad performance? But even though Oliver
Stone is Oliver Stone, and maybe it wasn't his intention to
have cool football sequences, going to a football movie I
want to see some good football. "Any Given Sunday" didn't
have good football.
The story kinda goes like this: Al Pacino plays a
weathered coach, Tony D'Amato, brought up when football was
history, for players, owners, and fans. The owner died and
left the team in the hands of his daughter, played by
Cameron Diaz, who believes the coach's thinking is old and
is hurting the team.
When coach loses his star quarterback, Cap (Dennis Quaid)
to an injury and the youngin, Willie Beaman (Foxx) takes
charge, you can feel the changing of the guard from old-time
football to new-time football, and it's too bad. But there
is hope because Willie quickly learns that as much as
football is about him, there is no "I" in "team" and without
his team his life is shit. And who helps him open his eyes,
you guessed it, Tony.
The story is kind of simple and shows how dirty and
profit-driven sports has become, how it isn't about the
players at times (the painkillers and bad medical advice)
but at times is still about the players (the painkillers and
bad medical advice - kind of along the "what else am I going
to do with my life, coach?" mentality). And it's a good
story, although kind of long, and that helps carry the
movie, because, like I said, the action sequences went for
an artsy feel instead of making you feel the hard-hitting
sport that is football.
So this review is short. "Any Given Sunday" had a lot of
potential, and a lot of that potential rested in the hands
of Pacino, Foxx, and Stone. As a story and as an acting lot
the movie was good. But it is a football movie, and with
that comes one expectation - great football scenes. I wanted
to feel the action. I wanted to cringe when players got hit.
I wanted it to be better than "Inside Football" on HBO. I
didn't want a long, drawn-out, artsy shot of a football
spiral coming at me. I got the spiral. That disappointed me
and with that disappointment comes a 3 ½ stars out of
5.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!! |
