Virando o Jogo

This has low key always been one of my favorite movies, it's the perfect mindless sports flic with a good mix of inspo and comedy. Reeves is the perfect antihero to lead this team of oddballs. Keep expeditions low and just enjoy it for what it is.

Preposterous, but it is absolutely a blast.

Several scenes make the movie. Jail scene was worth the price of admission.

Don't take it too seriously or look for flaws. Critics are idiots.

Based on the NFL strike in the 80s, the Replacements is a movie of a bunch of people that missed their chance to play in the NFL getting to do that as replacement players or scabs. Keanu Reeves stars as quaterback Shane "footsteps" Falco, Gene Hackman is a master in his role of the coach Jimmy McGinty. The rest of the cast is very well done as well from Jon Favreau as the over excited defensive player to Rhys Ifans as Nigel "the leg" Gruff the kicker. Almost every actor seems born to play the role they have. The team, led by Falco starts off rough but soon finds their groove and become a force. It all comes down to the last regular season game and the announcement that the players and the NFL have come to a deal. Will Falco finish the season with the team he built, or will he bow out?

Really nothing new here for plot devices, but this movie is hilarious. It gets both thematic elements correct though. The drama is good when it needs to be and the comedy is well above par when needed.

This movie is like Little Giants for adults. It's fun watching this brand of misfits come together and win football games. Gene Hackman is channeling his Hoosiers performance. It's easy to root for these guys. Where I wish the movie was better was with the actual football scenes. There are many times where the logic and editing of the games is way off (like taking a timeout after a kickoff to stop the clock). That was a bit distracting to me but I otherwise liked it.

It's a sportsmovie. It's got every sports cliche in the book: "I look at you and see two men. The man you are and the man you ought to be." But, hell, who cares? It's the Major League of football movies. Sure, it's not gonna win an Oscar, but it's entertaining. A good movie to kill 2 hours. You want drama in a football movie, check out Any Given Sunday. You want fun, mindless entertainment, check this out. Props to Keanu Reeves for learning to throw like a genuine quarterback.