Any Given Sunday, directed by Oliver Stone, features actors Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz in a rather unusual movie: a sports movie. Better yet, an American Football movie.
Pacino plays a manager who has too many conflicts with a (young) club owner, as played by Diaz and it does get predictable, pretty often. Better yet, Pacino naturally, conflicts with any of the younger players, the ones that prefer to be famous instead of working things out together as a team. And ofcourse, Pacino’s contract is at stake: pretty Diaz makes that clear from the beginning.
Still, Stone squeezes something out of it, in his particular style. Random flashes inserted here and there reach the climax when manager and (potential) star player skirmish. Their arguments are superimposed on scenes from the movie ‘Ben Hur’. And Stone wouldn’t be Stone without a couple surprises: later in the movie Charlton Heston (Ben Hur) appears as the commisioner, presiding the ‘battle of the Gladiators’.
Although it gets predictable, it looks like Stone made a good movie on Football: good for an hour amusement, but that’s it. Naturally, if you’re an Al Pacino fan, this one should be on your list of movies to see.