Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Al Pacino
Genre: Sports/Drama
Studio:   Release date: 1999   Rated: R
Language (Country): ( USA )
Summary: Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday" isn't perfect, but the majority of it is successful and entertaining enough so that I'd consider it the director's best recent effort. The film does a stunning job at getting right into the middle of the football games, depicting every move, every plan and every bone-crushing smack as players hit one another. When it leaves the field though, it begins to feel a little bit lengthy now and then.

The story revolves around an aging coach named Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino, whose performance manages to hold the whole nearly three hour thing together) and his similarly aging quarterback (Dennis Quaid - nice performance, but not much of a character) fighting against the new school - mainly one Christina Pagniacci(Cameron Diaz, in a fun, nasty, sassy performance) who now owns the team and a quarterback who suddenly finds himself in the spotlight and enjoying fame a little too much, Willie Beaman(Jamie Foxx).

There's many little sub-plots that are strung together throughout the film, such as a side story about the sleazy team doctor(James Woods, always excellent) and an annoying reporter, but there's no denying that Pacino holds all of these strings together. An angry Pacino is an entertaining Pacino and he's presented with the perfect role here, yelling at the team, giving dramatic speeches, facing Diaz's team owner and doing it all with intensity.

I liked the fact that the film tries to balance off-the-field actions with the decisions that have to be made on-the-field, but there are some things that seem like a little much. Some of the relationship elements feel a bit excessive, but when these events say something about football and the nature of celebrity, they're interesting and entertaining. Stone also has quite the group of actors to make for an involving bunch. Diaz turns in one of her best and most intense performances as Christina, and Jamie Foxx provides a good dramatic performance that differs from his comic work. Pacino is well...Pacino. He's perfect to play a football coach and here, he takes the role and runs with it.

The film contains many great scenes and a solid, smart script. A little bit more editing could have made this a tighter film, though. The football scenes are perfect; off-the-field, the film is sometimes hit-and-miss. On the whole though, "Any Given Sunday" is a solid picture.

Aaron Belerle (DVDTalk.com)