Can Any Given Film score as big?

Here is a film that is a masterpiece, but was glossed over by critics. What allowed me to see the true beauty and power behind this film? First, when I saw it, my interest in film was not an obsession, as it is today. Therefore, I did not dislike it for lack of character development, its frustrating editing, or its loud sound effects. Nor did I especially like the film after first seeing it. Like most average moviegoers, I just got up and walked out of the theater in silence as soon as the credits rolled.

A year later, I saw a DVD copy of "Any Given Sunday" sitting in the grocery store, staring at me. Its case was colorful and attractive; well designed. That was the second DVD I ever bought (after "The Insider", another masterpiece). I subsequently watched Any Given Sunday over and over again, and then again. By now, I have watched Any Given Sunday at least twenty times through. This may sound ridiculous, but it is not only sadly true, but a profoundly telling.

Roger Ebert professes to having watched Citizen Kane countless times. If a film is great, then it can be watched over and over again, only to be appreciated more with every viewing. Thus is true with "Any Given Sunday" a masterpiece, like "Citizen Kane", first overlooked, only to be discovered as truly great after countless viewings.

I know many people who consider Any Given Sunday to be an entertaining film. But what makes it great? The director and co-writer, Oliver Stone, easily and proficiently juggles multiple storylines and non-linear action to make a mosaic of sight and sound that can be studied for hours, but that is not what makes this film a masterpiece. What makes "Any Given Sunday" a masterpiece is the overall experience of watching the film. After seeing "Any Given Sunday", one walks away with a sense of what it is like in the world of professional football.

Of course, this is arguably what every standard narrative film sets out to do. And, this may sound like some cheesy tagline that the poster might have on it, but, it is true. So rare it is that a film can actually give a proper and entertaining glimpse into any world, that when it is done, the result is astounding. Sometimes, though, the result is also too much at once. When one is able to go back and digest the information over and over, the picture clears up (literally, in this case) and becomes more and more profound. Stone is famous and infamous for making densely packed films, like "JFK". He is known for it because he does it so well, and here, he does it again. He does it so well that it is one of his best films, behind "JFK" and "Platoon".

Tony D’mato (Pacino) is the clichéd aging football coach of the fictional AFFA Miami Sharks. Dennis Quaid plays the quarterback that is injured only seconds after the opening credit. Willie ‘Steamin’ Beamin is his replacement. Right away, Beamin’s (Jamie Foxx) hidden skills are shown off and tensions run high. Cameron Diaz is awesome as the team’s ferocious owner. Clichés are not necessarily poisonous to stories. Here, Stone dissects the clichés, and allows us to see beyond them, in a tour de force analysis of modern football.

There is no meaning beyond what the film clearly claims to be about. And, for once, this film is about what it claims to be about. We see how the media, the fans, the owners, coaches, star athletes, retiring players, team doctors, all of their mothers, fathers, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and even their prostitutes, affect one thing: the game. And near the end, in Stone’s usual subtle melodramatic way, we learn that the game is played just as fiercely off the field as it is on the field.