Put your pitchforks and torches down, and actually analyze the film “Any Given Sunday”. If it was suppose to be a comedy like “The Longest Yard” or “The Replacement’s” I’d view it differently. However this was made to be a serious drama, and it misses the mark. The entire movie is over the top late 90’s cheese and we all fell for it at one time.
“Any Given Sunday” follows the Miami Sharks who are coached by Al Pacino, and owned by Cameron Diaz. Dennis Quaid plays an aging veteran quarterback, while Jamie Foxx also plays a QB but is buried on the depth chart. LL Cool Jay as the starting running back and Lawrence Taylor as “Mike” linebacker also have a role. This is a star studded cast, but the movie forces too many storylines and they are all stereotyped.
Al Pacino is the old coach who is estranged from his family. Everyone underestimates Diaz as an owner because she’s a woman and inherited the team from her father. Dennis Quaid’s best days are behind him, but has given everything to the franchise. Jamie Foxx has trust issues with coaches in the past due to racism, but is the teams best option over Quaid. LL Cool J is more worried about the incentives in his contract than winning, and becomes jealous of Foxx for taking plays away from him. “LT” has a controlled substance addiction because of his injuries. James Woods is the doctor prescribing LT that cares more about winning than the well being of the athletes. Every person in the movie is a walking caricature, and their lives are all outlandish in their own way.
There are some positives. Even though the game day scenes are extreme, they are entertaining. Whether it was suppose to be bad or not Jamie Foxx’s character having his own rap song after two games is hysterical. (NSFW)
What ultimately saves this movie comes toward the end with Al Pacino’s speech. It’s incredible, and one of the best in film.
(SPOILERS) The end of the film is a press conference where Pacino announces that he will be accepting the head job with a new expansion team where he can also be the general manager. This makes room for new head coach Aaron Eckhart, who was handpicked by Diaz. However, Pacino adds that he signed Jamie Foxx that morning shocking everyone in the room, including Diaz. It’s preposterous that a free agent signing would happen that fast, before an announcement of management, to an expansion team, all while Foxx has trust issues to begin with.
I’m not saying “Any Given Sunday” is an awful movie. It’s a violent, exaggerated take on professional sports, riddle with cartoon like characters. It can be fun, but it has no business being talk about as one of the best football movies of all time.
