Any Given Sunday (1999)

What happens when the acclaimed and idiosyncratic director of JFK, Natural Born Killers, and The Doors attempts to direct a conventional sports drama about his favorite sport?  Multiple Oscar-winner Oliver Stone showed us back in December 1999 that the result would be clearly anything BUT conventional!  And he had quite the cast for this epic tail of a few weeks in the life of the fictional Miami Sharks, a professional football team at a crossroads.   They have a hot-headed new owner (Cameron Diaz) trying in to rein their beleaguered veteran coach (Al Pacino) and have also just lost their veteran quarterback (Dennis Quaid) to a severe injury so they have to replace him with a third string quarterback (Jamie Foxx) with something to prove.  And what results is a wild 160 minutes of big budget football insanity jam-packed with game-related violence, debauchery, and VERY loud arguments!  Also included in this stacked cast are James Woods, LL Cool J, Jim Brown, Aaron Eckhart, Matthew Modine, John C. McGinley, Lela Rochon, Lawrence Taylor, Elizabeth Berkley, AND the late great Charlton Heston. :) It's time to make a run for the Pantheon Cup....

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY – 1999

Directed by Oliver Stone

Starring Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, James Woods, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, Lela Rochon, Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Bill Bellamy, Andrew Bryniaski, Lauren Holly, Ann-Margaret, Aaron Eckhart, John C. McGinley, Elizabeth Berkley, and Charlton Heston

Genre: Sports Drama (Audio clip)

Upon first seeing this full throttle 160 minute football epic in theaters 25 years ago and even rewatching it now, one thought always floats around in the back of my head: 

"Was Oliver Stone actually the right director for this?"

Because as much as I genuinely loved some of his '90's output (JFK, Natural Born Killers), I just didn't see him pulling off a cohesive sports drama. And Stone directs this story chronicling one consequential late season/playoff round for a fictitious professional football team (the Miami Sharks) in SUCH an impatient, frenetic manner - constant quick cuts, shifting between multiple film stocks, loud distracting needle-drops interrupting other needle-drops, spliced unrelated footage into the game play of chariot races and/or Native American rituals - that the narrative feels as if it's suffocating itself at points. 🙄 

Much of the on-field action is incomprehensible at points so it often feels like a football movie where you can BARELY follow the actual football being portrayed....when you're not struggling to keep a handle on WHICH characters we're supposed to be following the most. 

It's WAY too much in every sense....too many characters, too many tangents, too many go-for-broke performances, and....almost comically...SO much story which Stone (along with co-writers John Logan and Daniel Pyne) are attempting to cram into this that some very consequential parts of that story spill well into the closing credits. 🫣

And yet because of the mastery of several of those performances along with the genuine tension and emotion seeping through when this movie barely slows down to breathe at points, I still find it highly rewatchable. I'm not honestly sure if this film succeeds because of OR in spite of Stone's instincts...but that just doesn't seem to matter when I'm finding a quiet monologue from Lawrence Taylor (!) or an unhinged rant from a seemingly miscast Cameron Diaz to be so compelling! And they're not even the biggest highlights.....

There's not a dull character nor subplot among this batch and it's QUITE the batch....including some notable supporting characters played by notable actors like Matthew Modine or Lela Rochon who are somewhat underutilized yet still grab some memorable moments. Charlton Heston has one great throwaway line, Elizabeth Berkeley steals one moment, John C McGinley's floppy haircut simply GRABS you....it just never lets up to the point of distraction. It KINDA feels as if Baz Luhrman directed a football movie. 😆

Pacino/D'amato's final pep talk towards the end focusing on "inches" remains an all-timer...just a truly stirring sequence when we get to see Pacino combine both rousing and regretful in the most eloquent way possible! This monologue ALONE probably cements this film in the win column for sports dramas....and the affected reactions from much of the stacked cast surrounding him (Jim Brown, Quaid, Foxx, Aaron Eckhart, LL Cool J) are pitch-perfect too. (Audio clip) 

But then following it is a mish-mash final half hour filled with a mix of genuinely exciting moments and even MORE excessive cutaways, along with some truly bizarre characters reversals which just feel arbitrary and seem to come out of nowhere. 🙄 the movie just doesn't know when to quit! (Well into the end credits as previously mentioned) Kinda like reviewing it actually....so I'll just leave it at that. 😜

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

In case, I had not mentioned already, the soundtrack for this movie is NUTS….arguably as varied and extensive as the soundscape was for previous episode Natural Born Killers just five years prior.  There is just SUCH a grab bag of pop music packed in here that they actually released TWO separate volumes of the soundtrack at the time of release…..much of it hip hop, you’ve got Missy Elliott, Kid Rock, Smokey Robinson, Hole, Mystikal, DMX, and Godsmack. With most of these songs played during game sequences (Audio clip) 

Of course one highlight for me was ALSO sprinkled throughout are various tracks from the Moby PLAY-list (literally featuring several tracks from his seminal "Play" album which was released earlier that year.) One pitch-perfect needle-drop is a quieter meditative melody playing at the very end over some gratifying closing moments between Pacino and Foxx....and then into the end credits over Pacino’s final speech along with various football imagery, the track is the LOVELY piano-based, “Everloving.” (Audio clip) 

Oh yeah and this being the ‘90’s and KIND of the peak ear when we had stars providing memorable closing tracks playing at the end of their movies – Will Smith’s Wild Wild West, LL Cool J’s EXQUISITE “Deepest Bluest” for previous episode Deep Blue Sea – well, THIS one closes out with a number playing over the second half of the closing credits which has quite grown on me over time.  It’s a extremely catchy mid-tempo hip-hop R&B number including Common, Guru, AND sexy lead vocals from the film’s star.  Yup the Pride of Terrell, Texas himself….actor, comedian, AND singer….Eric Marlon Bishop.  Known professionally of course as Jamie Foxx, I’m referring to the title track, “Any Given Sunday.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Whew….I don’t know, tough one here as this is just SUCH an overstuffed, overqualified cast….it’s hard to say that any one is particularly wasted as each actor is given at least one moment to shine.  Oh yeah James Woods is in this bad boy….playing….James Woods as the team’s lead doctor Harvey and for two minutes, he really DOES shine with enough high-energy…James Woodsy-ness that I would have dug a bit more if I’m being honest. (Audio clip) 

There’s also kind of a spousal abuse subplot towards the end of the movie involving Dennis Quaid’s beleaguered veteran quarterback Cap and his wife Cindy played by ‘90’s stalwart Lauren Holly.  I mean I’ll say this: Holly plays it well and leaves a mark with this moment….LITERALLY….but it just kind of comes out of nowhere and isn’t really developed beyond that point. (Audio clip) 

And that leaves Cameron Diaz who plays the team’s owner Christine Pagniacci…I mean WAS she miscast in that I can’t fathom a point in history when a woman in her mid-‘20’s would be the owner of a professional football team?  Maybe, maybe not….but Diaz plays the hell out of this character, even giving her some nuance towards the end.  I still feel like the screenplay kind of does her character dirty with that ONE last unnecessary twist revealed during the closing credits – we’re meant to be APPALLED that her owner would conspire to move the team but we’re then supposed to APPLAUD just a few scenes later when Pacino’s Tony screws her over in an equally underhanded manner?  Like I said, it’s just too much….but Diaz is still pretty great here regardless. (Audio clip)     

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

It comes down to the TWO best players on the field here….even though this highlight occurs off the field: PACINO and FOXX. The best overall scene in the movie involves a no-holds-barred conversation between these two around the 90 minute mark. Foxx playing Willie Beeman, the hot, upstart quarterback who's been on a winning streak is visiting the home of his beleaguered coach Tony D'Amato (Pacino) who's not only concerned that his brash upstart QB is changing plays in the huddle but wants to relay to him that their original starting QB (Dennis Quaid's Cap) will be returning from his injury to start for their first playoff game coming. There has already been tension between these two up until this point but NOW things are coming to a head! 

And it's a flat-out fantastic scene, not only showing Pacino at his middle-aged combative best but a true coming-out party for Foxx who honestly at THIS point in '99 just seemed more like yet another comedian from the show "In Living Color" attempting to transition into movies in the wake of Jim Carrey and the Wayans Bros. Who knew that Jamie Foxx had these kind of dramatic chops and that he could hold his own with Pacino?? Well by 2005 with three Oscar nominations and one win under his belt, we ALL knew. ;) It's a great back-and-forth between the two actors - also well-written of course - so major props to Stone and crew. But did we need constant cutaway to photos of Vince Lombardi or footage from Ben Hur during this verbal face-off? There's the rub again about Stone....

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

And yet…..Stone still DID direct a highly entertaining AND quotable sports melodrama at the end of the day.  I wouldn’t place this among the top tier of his filmography or among football films in general but it’s still ALL him for better or worse.  For delivering the ULTIMATE OLIVER STONE FOOTBALL MOVIE, Oliver Stone is the MVP. (Audio clip)  

Final Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5 

Streaming on Apple TV Plus

And that ends another CLAW WITH OUR FINGER NAILS FOR THAT INCH review!