Rolling Stone
"...Thunderous excitement..." 01/20/2000 p.63-4Variety
"A rambunctious, hyperkinetic, testosterone-and-adrenaline-drenched look at that obsession known as pro football..." 12/20/1999 pp.56-61 Entertainment Weekly
"...As exhausting as it is exciting....Jagged and alive..." -- Rating: B 02/18/2000 p.64 Premiere
"?Stone once again brilliantly captures the intensity of combat?" -- 3 out of 5 stars - A Satisfying Rental 10/01/2000 p.90 Box Office
"...Stone brands ANY GIVEN SUNDAY with his trademark extreme close-ups and disorienting handheld camerawork, creating a position for the audience right on the field where it can hear every call and feel every hit..." 02/01/2000 p.57 USA Today
"...There are so many basic dramatic truths in its age-vs.-youth/pragmatism-vs. -tradition conflict that any fan of sports movies should be carried along..." 12/22/1999 p.1D Los Angeles Times
"...Energetic....Stone pours on the razzle-dazzle..." 12/22/1999 p.C1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...A smart sports movie....The film's dialogue scenes are effective....The dramatic scenes are worth it. Pacino has some nice heart-to-hearts with Quaid and Foxx..." 12/22/1999 p.70 Uncut
"Quaid is strong but sympathetic..." 03/01/2005 p.65 Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Oliver Stone's ``Any Given Sunday'' is a smart sports movie almost swamped by production overkill. The movie alternates sharp and observant dramatic scenes with MTV-style montages and incomprehensible sports footage. It's a miracle the underlying story survives, but it does...The story's expose of pro football will not come as news to anyone who follows the game. We learn that veteran quarterbacks sometimes doubt themselves, that injured players take risks to keep playing, that team doctors let them, that overnight stardom can turn a green kid into a jerk, that ESPN personalities are self-promoters, that owners' wives drink, that their daughters think they know all about football and that coaches practice quiet wisdom in the midst of despair. We are also reminded that all big games are settled with a crucial play in the closing seconds...There's a lot of music, though, and even a fairly unconvincing MTV music video for Foxx to star in. It's as if Stone wanted to pump up the volume to conceal the lack of on-field substance. In his films like ``JFK'' and ``Nixon,'' there was a feeling of urgent need to get everything in; we felt he had lots more to tell us and would if he could. ``Any Given Sunday'' feels stretched out, as if the story needed window dressing. It's as if the second unit came back with lots of full-frame shots of anonymous football players plowing into one another in closeup, and Stone and his editors thought they could use that to mask their lack of substantial, strategic, comprehensible sports action footage. Adding to the distraction is the fact that the outcome of every single play matches the dramatic needs of the script...It's a close call here. I guess I recommend the movie because the dramatic scenes are worth it. Pacino has some nice heart-to-hearts with Quaid and Foxx, and the psychology of the veteran coach is well-captured in the screenplay by Stone and John Logan. But if some studio executive came along and made Stone cut his movie down to two hours, I have the strangest feeling it wouldn't lose much of substance and might even play better. - Roger Ebert
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