Jamie Foxx: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Willy Beamen €“ Any Given Sunday

Offering up sterling work in Oliver Stone's last decent film (yeah, you heard), Foxx's turn as third-choice quarterback Willie Beamen is a thing of beauty in a powerfully dramatic film. Although Foxx recently revealed that Stone told he couldn't act at the audition, he holds up his end of the film just as well as any of his more seasoned and experienced co-stars. Basically, if you weren't being acted off the screen by a pre-Gigli Al Pacino, you were doing something right. Let's not forget that this was Foxx's first shot at leading a major drama after a prolonged run of comedies and minor roles, something which makes the performance even more impressive. Foxx handles Beamen's arc with ability that would presumably be beyond the star of Held Up, The Booty Call and The Players Club, imbuing his character with that ill-defined but integral characteristic €“ watchability. Sure, his character arc of vomiting rookie to narcissistic blowhard to redeemed, awesome individual could be classed as something of a cliche, but in Foxx's capable hands, this story we've all seen before in countless situations becomes compelling viewing. Arrogant, brash yet vulnerable, if you're not punching the air by the time he jumps ship to bigger and better things with Pacino's Tony D'Amato, you've got a heart of stone.