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I really like Oliver Stone about half the time, but the show-offy style he used with Natural Born Killers and J.F.K. doesn't service Any Given Sunday. Those other films, with their multiple perspectives and drug-induced visions, felt right to employ rapid editing and multiple media. But Any Given Sunday is (or should have been) a reality-based ensemble drama about the rigors and tribulations of everyone who works in football. Freeze-frames, stock photography of rolling thunder clouds, and ecclesiastic Moby music don't work here -- they only serve to portray football as something holy and sacred, and the players as celebrities or gods.

Granted, I don’t give a shit about football, so if you pray to the pigskin gods maybe Stone’s take on the material will rest all right with you. But I found the constant extreme closeups and rapid editing (even in slow scenes) a nuisance, and once you start inter-cutting an otherwise fine dramatic exchange between Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx with scenes from Ben-Hur, I have to pull the ‘pretentious bullshit’ lever. And is it just me, or two-thirds of this bloated run-time (two and a half hours) nothing but musical montage?

If you love football, I’m sure you’ll like the movie more than I did, though I enjoy several other sports movies without having to enjoy the games. Foxx is very good as the up-and-coming quarterback who gets a big head and Pacino makes the most of his ‘old coach nearing retirement’ role (I wish he weren’t forced to be such a Debbie Downer here). Cameron Diaz is memorable as the team’s no-nonsense manager and James Woods chews up at least one good scene. With Dennis Quaid, L.L. Cool J, Ann-Margret, Matthew Modine, Aaron Eckhart, and Charlton Heston.