Any Given Sunday follows the fortunes of an American Football team as they battle to reach the end of season play-offs. They win some, they lose some, you get the idea. It has the stock sports movie characters. We get the old fashioned coach (Al Pacino). The young owner (Cameron Diaz). The ageing Quarterback (Dennis Quaid). The young, up and coming Quarterback (Jamie Foxx). A mercenary running back (LL Cool J). And a cynical club doctor (James Woods playing James Woods).

It’s a typically overblown effort from Stone. He lays on the gladiatorial theme so thick, he even shows clips from Ben Hur to make sure you get the message. At times the imagery takes on an almost religious feel (football as the new church, anyone?) but perhaps I was reading more into it than was actually there.

However, the actual game sequences work well and are driven along by a Rap soundtrack, which although not my particular bag, fits the action pretty well.

Be warned, there is one particularly gory and gratuitous sequence involving an eyeball, whose only purpose seems to be to remind you that its an Oliver Stone film.

All in all, not the best sports movie I’ve ever seen, but not the worst either.

Mild Peril Rating:

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