i can see a decent sports movie struggling to break free of oliver stone's `any given sunday' . it's an entertaining movie that offers both insight and excitement into the rock-em , sock-em profession of pro football . unfortunately , the director seems to have only one priority on his mind : sprucing up the film with an assortment of fancy camera maneuvers . in altering each frame with quick-flash photography and dizzying , in-your-face editing , stone appears to have completely ignored the matter of plausible character development and football politics . we see glimpses of greatness , but `any given sunday' has its agenda all tangled in technical gobbledy-gook . it grows tiresome and monotonous . yes , stone has pulled a brian depalma . matters of importance are pushed aside right from the get-go . tony d'amato ( al pacino ) , coach of the struggling miami sharks , finds his team stuck in a losing rut . aging quarterback cap rooney ( dennis quaid ) appears to be losing his touch , and d'amato can't seem to ignite any passion in his squad . when cap is injured on the field , and after a patch of unlikely events occur , third-string qb willie beaman ( jamie foxx ) is brought into the game . once in the huddle ( and this becomes an in-game ritual ) , beaman horks all over the field . nerves , you see . eventually though , the ancy youngster wins the game for his teammates , sparking his rise to fame in the football world - the endorsements , the music videos , etc . - and stone straps us in for the jolting ride of behind-the-scenes stress and fury that the business is apparently like . and i believe it . there is some intriguing insight posed , but in the big scheme of things , stone fumbles the ball . the problem with the director's visual approach is this : he uses extravagant editing devices when a more conventional approach would have been appropriate . football is an exciting game to watch , but stone seems to think dizzying the audience with an assault on the senses will only add to the adrenaline rush . i guess he is mistaken . `any given sunday' is a visual kaleidoscope that leaves the audience in a frustrated stupor more frequently than it excites them . many football fans ( including one i attended with ) are liable to be disappointed with the `ultra-stylish' way stone has decided to present the game . in return , a three-star film becomes unfortunately degraded due to the director's tampering . in welcome scenes when the visual pummeling comes to a break , this actually shows decent character development and interaction . for instance , heated returns between d'amato and feisty young owner christina pagniacci ( cameron diaz ) are enjoyable to watch . there is also a solid performance from jamie foxx , who experiments with great success in his first trek into dramatic territory . the stellar supporting cast includes matthew modine , aaron eckhart , lauren holly , ann-margret and charlton heston ( in an extraordinarily brief appearance ) . unfortunately , too many big names are wasted - a typical demise for a film with such a large and experienced cast . pacino makes some interesting progress with his character . you begin to identify with coach d'amato and the morals he is striving for . . . . but i often felt he was just another play thing stone could weave in and out of his editing dynamics . `any given sunday' is a watchable but disappointing sports film in which plot and characters take a back seat to excessive filmmaking technique . and a very distant back seat , at that .
