Product Details

• Actors: Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz, James Woods, Jamie Foxx
• Directors: Oliver Stone
• Writers: Oliver Stone, Daniel Pyne, John Logan
• Producers: Clayton Townsend, Dan Halsted, Eric Hamburg, Jonathan Krauss
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Special Edition, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: January 16, 2001
• Run Time: 150 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (227 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000053V9E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,087 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Any Given Sunday, Oliver Stone's salute-cum-exposé of pro football, belabors some pretty obvious points for nigh onto three hours; but between the frenetic editing, the pounding rap-music beats, and several flashy performances, it's certainly never dull. Al Pacino, coach of the fictional Miami Sharks (the NFL declined involvement in this production), struggles with the most time-honored of sports movie dilemmas: what to do with the old friend who's past his prime and the young hotshot who could save the franchise but first has to learn what being a team player is all about. Comedian Jamie Foxx does a marvelous dramatic turn as the rookie quarterback whose ego and talent are equally impressive, while Pacino seems more at ease in Oliver Stone Land than any actor since regular James Woods (on hand as well as a sleazy team doctor). Prowling the sidelines, shouting spittle-flecked orders, seizing up in almost physical pain when a play goes the wrong way, Pacino is as unashamedly--and entertainingly--hyperbolic as Stone's whirling montages of boiling storm clouds, bloodthirsty fans, and players smashed into the mud. (Once again football, perhaps the most sophisticated of team sports, is viewed cinematically as a bunch of guys hitting each other in slow motion.) Unfortunately, all the self-conscious mythologizing and pumped-up macho posturing that Stone can muster doesn't conceal a clichéd, slapped-together script, whose few good ideas (mostly about race in America) jostle about with several hoary, terrible ones--including a too-literal analogy of football players as modern gladiators. (To drive the point home, Stone includes Charlton Heston--the aging Ben-Hur--in one of many star-powered cameos.) All in all, Any Given Sunday is never dull, but never very enjoyable, either. --Bruce Reid

From The New Yorker

In Oliver Stone's pro-football movie, everything happens at once: the ball is snapped, thighs churn, bodies lock together, and, as the coach screams, an arm is raised to throw the ball. Stone takes us so deep inside the action that we feel we're being threshed by the teeth of a machine. This is an overwrought, exhausting movie, but at least Stone's instincts as an entertainer have revived. The movie is ostensibly a protest against corporate control of sport but is itself a prime example of corporate art. With Al Pacino, haggard and magnificent, as the aging, traditionalist coach Tony D'Amato; Dennis Quaid as the star quarterback who, in his late thirties, is fading fast; Jamie Foxx as the young hot shot who wants to replace him, and who must be taught to play not just for himself but for the team; Cameron Diaz as the blond-bitch team owner; and football great Lawrence Taylor as a defensive genius who risks maiming himself. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Any movie that's about football can't be all bad, February 13, 2005

By 

Wheelchair Assassin (The Great Concavity) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Any Given Sunday (DVD)

Are you suffering from the annual bout of post-Super Bowl depression (PSBD)? Is this Sunday, the first since the end of the NFL season, leaving you feeling lost, already looking ahead to September so you can resume watching a collection of pumped-up, tattoed freaks of nature perform astounding feats of physical prowess? Are you terrified at the thought of having to spend Sundays reading, going outside, or spending quality time with loved ones? Well, if you are, you could do a lot worse than to postpone the onset of PSBD by reclining in your favorite easy chair and watching Any Given Sunday.

Any Given Sunday has a lot to recommend it. It's got a sweet Hollywood budget, a cast loaded to the brim with talent (and no sign of Keanu Reeves, thankfully; I'm still having nightmares from the time I watched the Replacements), and the direction of the one and only Oliver Stone. In following the turbulent last quarter of a season in the life of the (fictional) Miami Sharks of the (fictional) AFFA, the movie combines an operatic scope with an almost fanatical attention to detail and loads of heavy philosophy for a film whose best moments (whether on the field or not) are as hard-hitting as anything you'll see in a real game. Sure, the movie trots out an endless series of hackneyed plot devices and stock characters, but Stone manages to breathe life into all of them.

A no-holds-barred if sensationalistic examination of professional football both on and off the field, Any Given Sunday is both believable and completely ridiculous at the same time, a monument to excess that is in itself wildly excessive. It starts punishing your senses right away, with two quarterbacks suffering catastrophic injuries and a third throwing up before taking his first snap, and it doesn't relax much from there on out, either in its torrid pace or in its commitment to full sensory assault. Indeed, this may be the fastest two-and-a-half-hour movie ever made. Like an all-out blitz up the middle, it comes at you relentlessly, and also like an all-out blitz, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. At times it seems as though Stone just tried to take the themes and conflicts that made Platoon such an artistic triumph and graft them onto a football movie. The movie goes for an outsized, epic feel at almost all times, with varying degrees of success.

At turns frenetic and painfully slow, Stone's camerawork makes for perhaps the best cinematic representation yet of the intensity and ferocity of pro football, and the movie's grasp of the game's strategical minutiae is a sign of a director who's done his homework. Regrettably, Stone's emphasis on brutal hits and flashy shots also takes something away from the inherent sophistication of the pro game, making it look like little more than the product of excessive testosterone levels. Of course, what happens on the field is only part of the story, as Stone makes sure to present the viewer with look at all the sordid goings-on that occur behind the scenes. It's here that the movie really throws everything but the kitchen sink at you, politely ensuring that boredom doesn't set in between game scenes. You've got fights; rampant substance abuse; players fornicating left and right; a mammoth SUV getting sawed in half; scads of gratuitous nudity; guys playing when they shouldn't even be trying to walk and chew gum and the same time; and lots of hot women acting extremely catty. And that's just a short list.

Alright, I've somehow managed to fill up four paragraphs with this review, so it's time to cut things off here. At any rate, while certainly not without its flaws, Any Given Sunday is one immensely enjoyable movie, especially for the football nut. So check it out if you haven't already.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Any Given Sunday, August 20, 2000

By 

Brian Brems (Montgomery, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Any Given Sunday [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was truly an excellent film. This movie is Oliver Stone's best since Platoon. The fast-moving and dizzying cinemaphotography fits the high adrenaline atmosphere of the professional football world well. The film is also perfectly cast. Pacino gives life to the head coach, and Cameron Diaz's clearly most intense role as the team's owner is believeable. James Woods gives an excellent performance as the team doctor, who doesn't really seem to care about anyone but himself. Jamie Foxx has a breakthrough dramatic role as the new hotshot quarterback, whose ritualistic vomiting adds humor to the movie. With his performance, we find out Foxx really can act. LL Cool J, also puts through a convincing performance as the team's running back. Dennis Quaid doesn't really do much as the former QB with injury problems except help to develop Pacino's character. An outstanding cast, that features Charlton Heston as the football comissioner, and Ann-Margaret as Cameron Diaz's alcoholic mother. Former pro football players Jim Brown and Lawrence Taylor pop up as members of the team. I recommend it highly. This is possibly the best sports movie ever made.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong...., November 8, 2000

By 

Jim Austin (Wylie, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Any Given Sunday (DVD)

When this movie first came out to its slate of tepid reviews, I decided not to go see it. When the DVD came out, I decided not to buy it. When I recently received the DVD as a gift, I was surprised to find that I honestly couldn't wait to watch it. Admittedly, I have always found Oliver Stone's films to be entertaining. I am also a life-long Cowboys fan. And, truth be known, I was curious to see what Stone thought about the state of professional football, albeit via his mythical Miami Sharks. The best thing that I ever did was to quit reading reviews, and sat down with a bowl of popcorn to give this film its shot.

The verdict is that I really liked this film. Call it a guilty pleasure if you must, but I really enjoyed this movie. The screenplay is structured around some interesting and engaging characters, providing good insights into their individual experiences with the team. The cast is first rate and there are plenty of good performances. From the owner's box, to the training room, at home with the wife and kids, and off the field with all of its complications, this movie does a memorable job of showing all sides of the world of professional football. I even liked the movie soundtrack with its catchy tunes. No offense to the other reviewers, but Heston is perfect as the power-mongering league commissioner. James Woods is great as the veteran team physician who has seen too much. Jim Brown and LT give accurate and believable performances in their respective roles. I also found the parallels between the film's plot line and the present day soap opera going on with my beloved Cowboys to be kind of spooky. True, there are times when the plot to this movie looks a little too cliché. I find it to be a point to the film's level of authenticity, however, that the current highest paid player in the NFL is perhaps living out an eerily similar experience with his family, doctors, coaches and owner.

This movie is not a classic but there is a lot about it that holds up in repeated viewings. The dog-eat-dog world of the professional athletics is portrayed in some admittedly predictable scenes, but there are some nice surprises as well. The ending to this movie is, for me, its truest moment. I think that the best thing about this movie is that while it deals competently with the intensity and pathos of professional football, it never forgets to keep its sense of humor. If you can do the same thing, my guess is that you will really enjoy this movie. There is a lot more about it that works than most of these reviews would lead you to believe.