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The Replacements (2000)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 5/08, 1/20

Rep1
5/08: Miles ahead of Any Given Sunday, The Replacements is a hysterically funny movie that teaches teamwork and character despite the cliché story.

I like most of the characters as they're fun to watch although a couple of them, most especially Jon Favreau's, are annoying. Overall, the cast has good chemistry. It's refreshing to see Keanu Reeves giving his all which shows how much he cares. Moreover, he's primarily responsible for the infusion of comedy and romance.

For the final film of his storied career, Jack Warden has been a great actor, having once played George Halas in Brian's Song. It's a nice touch of Gene Hackman's character to seek out a deaf player from Gallaudet "University" and put him on the team, but I'm disappointed to see he didn't go further by getting an ASL interpreter for him. Otherwise, how will he understand what people are saying?

All in all, The Replacements is a definite crowd-pleaser.

1/20: Although a fun movie to watch with pretty good football scenes, The Replacements is a rip-off of Necessary Roughness.

Instead of college, we have a mix of semi-pro and washed-up football players. Jettisoning the whole season, they must win three out of the last four games to qualify for the playoffs. Instead of a female, the kicker is a coarse, chain-smoking guy from Wales. The rest of everything else is pretty much the same: a band of misfits, a quarterback and his head coach as the two principal leads, a speedy wide receiver with stone hands, and an announcer (in this case, it's two: John Madden and Pat Summerall) to explain in colorful words what he's seeing for the audience.

Aw, it's nice to have on board a deaf player from Gallaudet "University." Their football program has been shitty for pretty much of its existence. That's not the worst part, but rather, it's this: how is he on the team but nobody provides him an ASL interpreter? I'll be surprised if he knew what the hell was going on all the time.

Only Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman do decent jobs. For Jack Warden, it's his final film appearance after 56 years of acting, having been in two other football pictures: Brian's Song and Heaven Can Wait. But the rest of the cast is garbage, and pretty please...no more of the "let's get mad" idiocy that's heartily supplied by Jon Favreau. You don't think that life imitates art? Well, four years ago, Michael Jace, who plays a convicted felon named Earl Wilkinson (aka Ray Smith for the games), was sentenced 40 years to life in prison for fatally shooting his wife.

All in all, The Replacements is essentially the same as Necessary Roughness but worse.