Les remplaçants

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.

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 was made purely for entertainment. What a breath of fresh air. With all the extremely dramatic, be it important, films being made lately (Life is Beautiful,etc), it's nice to watch a film that is just entertaining. The supporting cast was amazing, as an ensemble they worked together as a team should. And Keanu Reeves gave a wonderful performance - he is often under appreciated as an actor because he is attractive - but he gave a solid performance. Gene Hackman was good - that goes without saying, but I think this is the first time I've ever seen him portray a character I actually liked.

If you enjoy a good laugh, this a movie you would likely enjoy.

Those are the words of coach (Hackman) before the final regular season game for the "replacement" players, filling in for the striking regulars. The "never-been" QB (Keanu Reeves) must try to lead them to victory.

"The Replacements" is primarily a good screwball comedy, in the vein of, but significantly better than, "Best of Show" and "The Waterboy." Some may even take a "message" away, about the importance of teamwork, belief in oneself, true love (QB and the head cheerleader). But that is all secondary.

I rate this one highly for pure escapism entertainment, but also with good acting by Reeves and Hackman, and some almost-believable football action, heavily interlaced with goofiness. The lap-dancers turned cheerleaders, who totally distract the opposing team. The tag-team vomiting during the huddle, after the Japanese sumo wrestler eats too many eggs before the game ("I gotta beef up!") The cop who, like in the "Waterboy", can get enraged (Coach says, "I want you to get me the ball," and he does.) The Welsh kicker who is "wirr-rrry strong" and smokes a cigarette while kicking. The "I will survive" dance in jail, after the barroom brawl with the 'regulars.'

To make a good screwball comedy, the writer and director have to walk a fine line and here they do it well. John Madden and Pat Summerall, playing announcers, are genuinely funny. The DVD picture, and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, are up to standards.

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.