Sometimes I think there are two, very different, Oliver Stones living in Hollywood. One is the director who re-writes history (J.F.K. and Nixon), re-writes scripts that are already brilliant to make them worse (Natural Born Killers) and turns out myopic, self-serving films like U-Turn and Heaven & Earth. Then there is this other Oliver Stone who directs terrific films like Wall Street and Platoon and now On Any Given Sunday. Stone has won two Oscars for Best Director after all, so he does know how.

Any Given Sunday is a film that manages to strip away the mystique of football and expose it as just another big business, while telling a series of complex, intertwined stories involving the main characters. It is admittedly a long film, but I have to say I didn't look at my watch once during the two hours and forty-five minute experience.

The plot centers around the fictional Miami Sharks football team (the NFL apparently didn't appreciate Stone's on-point depiction of pro football as what it is) that is led by long-time head coach Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino, his second superb acting performance of 1999). Cameron Diaz is Christina Pagniacci, general manager of the Sharks, thanks to having inherited ownership of the team from her late father. The team is struggling and when star quarterback Cap Rooney (Dennis Quaid) goes down, D'Amato has to turn to Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx) to take over and try to get the team into the playoffs.

The mark of the successful director is getting the actors to deliver their best. Stone really scores on this account, getting career-best performances from Diaz and Foxx. Diaz, who continues to amaze me with her ability to play such a broad range of characters is just perfect as the spoiled-brat owner/G.M. of a team that hangs precariously between greatness and the second tier. This may be the breakout performance Foxx has been waiting for. But the great work isn't limited to just those. This is a film with a huge cast and the talent and performances are strong throughout. Hall of Fame football players Jim Brown and Lawrence Taylor are perfectly cast as defensive coordinator and linebacker respectively. James Woods plays team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Harvey Mandrake and delivers energy in every moment he's on the screen. Lauren Holly is effective in her few moments as the wife of Cap Rooney, a woman who isn't quite ready to let her husband step quietly out of the spotlight into a future of comparative obscurity.

But is Al Pacino who dominates this film completely. In spite of the typical Stone extravagances with overly loud sound, choppy music-video like editing and the editing in of things that don't really seem to belong, Pacino overcomes all of this. His character is all about control, something he admits in a pivotal scene, and he is indeed in control of everything around him. This isn't the first time that Pacino has given two great performances in one year. In the year he won his Best Actor Oscar for Scent of a Woman, he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor Glengarry Glen Ross. I think that Pacino may well be nominated as Best Supporting Actor for this year's The Insider. In a year with a number of strong male lead performances, the question is, will he be nominated for Any Given Sunday?

Any Given Sunday is worth seeing, any given day of the week.