A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Any Given Sunday

Date Viewed: 1/6/00

Details:

Al Pacino

Cameron Diaz

Dennis Quaid

Jamie Foxx

James Woods

LL Cool J

Ann-Margaret

Matthew Modine

Director: Oliver Stone

Score: +

The Review:

Not just another football movie, but a damn well-acted football movie. A little of bit of "glory days gone by" and a little bit of "coming of age of the next generation" -- and the (many) conflicts between them. On any given Sunday, you're either gonna win, or you're gonna lose -- and this wins. The Miami Sharks are not having a great season, and we encounter them in the middle of what looks like will become the fourth loss in a row, well along in the season. The long-time coach (Pacino) is fuming, the aging quarterback (Quaid) gets seriously injured, a replacement QB follows suit, and a 3rd stringer (Foxx) finally gets a chance to strut his stuff. And he does, a little. The new owner (Diaz, following the death of her father, the former owner) is pissed about the team's record, and is not at all eager to support an aging coach who cannot seem to motivate the team, or the injured and expensive QB; she also does a lot of wheeling and dealing in the background, and it almost seems as if she might actually want the team to do badly, so she can sell it, take the money, and run (some variant, perhaps, on "Springtime for Hitler" from The Producers?). The movie follows through the completion of the regular season, through several interesting games, and through the development and team socialization of the young QB.

Powerful acting; excellent ensemble work. Pacino is excellent, complex and appealing; and Diaz indeed comes off as "someone who would eat her own children" (in the words of one of the characters), crazed and bitchy. Foxx is good as the QB finally given his chance, but who slowly seems to be abusing the situation. There's a curious cameo by Charleton Heston as one of the senior owners, made curious because of the clips from Ben Hur which play obviously in the background of one of the scenes (film buffs will note, however, that it is being shown out of sequence).

Stay through the credits, or what looks like the credits -- this follows in the mold of many recent movies that are beginning to exercise some creativity in the use some of the credit rolling time -- here it is part of the post-denouement plot, capping it with an up-beat situation.

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