Any Given Sunday (1999)

"...enormous fun to watch.  Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
"The film's cumulative effect is as exhausting as it is exciting.  Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

Editor's Note Oliver Stone's hard-hitting look at the adrenaline-fueled world of pro football stars Al Pacino as Miama Sharks coach Tony D'Amato. Having just lost his star quarterback, Jack Rooney (Dennis Quaid), he's forced to use the erratic Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx) off the bench, hoping he can resuscitate his team, which is floundering on the field and in attendance figures. If not, Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz), the team's new owner, may be drop-kicking him to a new destination.

	James Woods
	John C. McGinley
	Al Pacino
	Matthew Modine
	Aaron Eckhart
	Lauren Holly
	Bill Bellamy
	LL Cool J
	Lawrence Taylor
	Ann-Margret
	Jamie Foxx
	Lela Rochon
	Jim Caviezel
	Charlton Heston
	Dennis Quaid
	Cameron Diaz
	Elizabeth Berkley
	Oliver Stone - Screenwriter
	Rob Huizenga - Source Writer
	Keith Salmon - Editor
	Lauren Shuler Donner - Producer
	Richard Horowitz - Composer
	Michael Mees - Editor
	Pat Toomay - Source Writer
	Thomas J. Nordberg - Editor
	Stuart Levy - Editor
	Oliver Stone - Producer
	Salvatore Totino - Director of Photography
	Dan Halsted - Producer
	Mary Zophres - Costume Designer
	Victor Kempster - Production Designer
	Clayton Townsend - Producer
	John Logan - Screenwriter
	Oliver Stone - Director

Oliver Stone delves into his love-hate relationship with pro football in this high-impact film, thriving on the game's adrenaline rush while revealing its ultimate corruption. When legendary Miami Sharks quarterback Cap Rooney (Dennis Quaid) is badly injured in a game, coach Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) is forced to reach deep into his bench for Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx). The third-stringer's injury-plagued career and difficulty with maintaining focus make him a dubious commodity at best. But Beamen, aware of what this opportunity could mean, starts playing at a much higher level than ever before, planting championship hopes in the minds of Miami fans. The extraordinary success of Beamen, an athlete whose flamboyance contradicts everything the Lombardi-like D'Amato believes about the game, makes the coach wonder whether his time is passing. To add to his problems, Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz), a young woman who has inherited ownership of the team from her late father, is pressuring him to win now, and at any cost. Will D'Amato be able to pull the team together for a final run at the championship? The film conveys a vivid sense of the atmosphere of pro football and features a finely modulated performance by Pacino. Rolling Stone
"...Thunderous excitement..." 01/20/2000 p.63-4

Variety
"A rambunctious, hyperkinetic, testosterone-and-adrenaline-drenched look at that obsession known as pro football..." 12/20/1999 pp.56-61

Entertainment Weekly
"...As exhausting as it is exciting....Jagged and alive..." -- Rating: B 02/18/2000 p.64

Premiere
"?Stone once again brilliantly captures the intensity of combat?" -- 3 out of 5 stars - A Satisfying Rental 10/01/2000 p.90

Box Office
"...Stone brands ANY GIVEN SUNDAY with his trademark extreme close-ups and disorienting handheld camerawork, creating a position for the audience right on the field where it can hear every call and feel every hit..." 02/01/2000 p.57

USA Today
"...There are so many basic dramatic truths in its age-vs.-youth/pragmatism-vs. -tradition conflict that any fan of sports movies should be carried along..." 12/22/1999 p.1D

Los Angeles Times
"...Energetic....Stone pours on the razzle-dazzle..." 12/22/1999 p.C1

Chicago Sun-Times
"...A smart sports movie....The film's dialogue scenes are effective....The dramatic scenes are worth it. Pacino has some nice heart-to-hearts with Quaid and Foxx..." 12/22/1999 p.70

Uncut
"Quaid is strong but sympathetic..." 03/01/2005 p.65

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday is a smart sports movie almost swamped by production overkill. The movie alternates sharp and observant dramatic scenes with MTV-style montages and incomprehensible sports footage. It's a miracle the underlying story survives, but it does...The story's expose of pro football will not come as news to anyone who follows the game. We learn that veteran quarterbacks sometimes doubt themselves, that injured players take risks to keep playing, that team doctors let them, that overnight stardom can turn a green kid into a jerk, that ESPN personalities are self-promoters, that owners' wives drink, that their daughters think they know all about football and that coaches practice quiet wisdom in the midst of despair. We are also reminded that all big games are settled with a crucial play in the closing seconds...There's a lot of music, though, and even a fairly unconvincing MTV music video for Foxx to star in. It's as if Stone wanted to pump up the volume to conceal the lack of on-field substance. In his films like JFK and Nixon, there was a feeling of urgent need to get everything in; we felt he had lots more to tell us and would if he could. Any Given Sunday feels stretched out, as if the story needed window dressing. It's as if the second unit came back with lots of full-frame shots of anonymous football players plowing into one another in closeup, and Stone and his editors thought they could use that to mask their lack of substantial, strategic, comprehensible sports action footage. Adding to the distraction is the fact that the outcome of every single play matches the dramatic needs of the script...It's a close call here. I guess I recommend the movie because the dramatic scenes are worth it. Pacino has some nice heart-to-hearts with Quaid and Foxx, and the psychology of the veteran coach is well-captured in the screenplay by Stone and John Logan. But if some studio executive came along and made Stone cut his movie down to two hours, I have the strangest feeling it wouldn't lose much of substance and might even play better. - Roger Ebert