Any Given Sunday (1999)

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY is a long, loud blur.  Good luck following even 
*half* of Ollie Stone's frantic football film, as nearly all of the 
game footage is of the handheld, varying speed, ultra-close-up, is-
he-aping-Michael-Bay-or-what? variety.  (On the story side, the 
subplots can get a bit confusing, as well.  What was that business 
between Cameron Diaz's team owner and Charleton Heston's league
commish, anyway?)  Off-field, the two-and-three-quarter-hour film
(ugh) is only *slightly* less in-your-face.  (And the award for 
Most Yelling in a Motion Picture goes to...)  The cast is extra-
appealing, tho, from James Woods' ethics-challenged M.D. to Ann-
Margaret's lush of a mother to the team owner.  Pacino is great; 
Quaid is great; Jamie Foxx is great.  Numerous pigskin pros also 
appear, such as Jim Brown's assistant coach, who holds his own in a 
low-key scene with Al.  (Now there's a screen pairing you don't see 
every day...)  Eh, this is one of those "sum of parts" movies, 
where the bits are better than the big picture.  You'll laugh; 
you'll wince; you'll watch your watch.  And, if you're like me and 
amazed at the hundreds of split-second shots, you'll wonder just 
how many hours of raw footage was filmed.  Now *that's* an editing 
job!  (Rated "R"/165 min.)

Grade: C
                     
Copyright 2000 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros                 

[an error occurred while processing this directive]