It belongs in the record books: at 2 hours and 40 minutes, Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday is the longest MTV music video ever made. Thank goodness it was about football or I don't know if I could have made it through. Featuring Stone's trademark nutty visuals and quick-cutting style, Any Given Sunday is entertaining, frustrating, laughable, and ludicrous all at the same time. It is perhaps the best bad movie of the year, but if you like football, it's difficult not to recommend the film. Lord help me, I enjoyed it.

Any Given Sunday tells the story of the fictional Miami Sharks professional football team. One night the team loses its first string quarterback (Dennis Quaid) to injury only to lose its second string QB on the very next play. Thus, the Sharks' coach, Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) is forced to go to his 3rd-stringer, Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx). Beamen, stunned by the enormity of the situation, vomits during his first game-time huddle. He plays admirably in his first game, despite a Sharks loss, its fourth in a row.

This losing streak prompts team owner Cameron Diaz to become more involved (read: interfere) in Pacino's management of the team. And this is just the beginning of an oddysey Oliver Stone takes us throughout the world of professional football. We see everything, and I do mean everything, there is to see. From the struggles of the coach and management to the media to the players to the wives, and last but not least, the medical staff. Oddly enough, Stone decided not to focus on the kicking team. Not one field goal is kicked in this film, and all decent place-kickers out there should feel slighted.

With Foxx at QB, the Sharks win two-in-a-row. As you could probably guess, the success goes to his head, and his ego grows by leaps and bounds. Soon he is upsetting everyone on the team: he calls his own plays, he isn't content to hand-off to his running back (LL Cool J), and he insults the defense. As Pacino states succinctly to owner Diaz, "He's tearing this team apart."

Any Given Sunday obviously tries to tackle too many issues. It has a strong and impressive cast, but they are lost in the chaos of Stone's film. We see the unethical team orthopedist (James Woods) clear players to play who shouldn't be played, much to the chagrin of his assistant (Matthew Modine). We see the Linebacker (Lawrence Taylor) who doesn't want to stop playing despite the risk of death. We even have a self-promoting television sports reporter (Stone-film perennial John C. McGinley). And did I mention the self-doubting veteran QB (Quaid) who is starting to fear for his health? Believe me there's more.

All of these characters, cliches and all, are squeezed together into a film that doesn't linger on one shot for more than five seconds. Stone throws everything but the kitchen sink into Any Given Sunday. The football scenes don't even allow the audience to see a single formation. Instead Stone catapults us into the action itself. While it would have been nice to know what plays they were running once and awhile, Stone does succeed in getting us onto the field. We feel the fear of a QB as he looks into the intimidating eyes of the hungry defensive line. He even gets us caught up in the obligatory last minute finish of the climactic football game, though we know exactly what's going to happen.

The actors all do their best, and most succeed. Pacino, despite yelling a bit too much, still caps a good year in film for him which included a terrific performance in The Insider. Jamie Foxx is the biggest surprise in the movie. He goes from innocent to egomaniac and back admirably in this film. There is one terrific scene in which Pacino and Foxx square off about his role on the team. The conversation is intercut with scenes from the chariot chase from Ben Hur, the symbolism pounding your head so hard you can feel a migraine coming on. Diaz fares less well, she's just too cute to be believable as a hard-nosed team owner intent on getting a new stadium deal even if it means moving the team to L.A. However, her presence does lead to the movie's most surreal scene: Diaz walks into the team's locker rooms and casually shakes hand with one enormous player who stands completely naked, his elephantine genatalia waving in Diaz's face.

All in all, Any Given Sunday, is a ludicrous film. It has every possible cliche. It is filled to the brim with MTV-style quick cuts. The soundtrack is populated with rock and rap favorites. There is even a music video within the film. Needless to say, this is a far cry from Platoon or Nixon, Stone's strongest films. He tries to make the definitive film on football, and he doesn't quite succeed. If you listen carefully, there are some interesting observations made, particularly by Foxx on the role of race in football. But most such observations are sacked (pun intended) by Stone's hammer-on-the-head style. There is no subtelty in the film. The script is extremely thin at times. Did I enjoy the film? You're darn right I did. This is my biggest guilty pleasure of the year.