Unassuming Time-Waster

Rating: 6/10 (25 December 2000)

I guess I was underwhelmed, but you know, it's a likeable film with few pretentions and some chuckles along the way. Amazing watching an actor with Gene Hackman's gravity and chops slumming with a non actor like Keanu Reeves (is it me, or is his voice breaking?) and the rest of the jock-actors hired on for authenticity. Gene could have sent in his performance as an e-mail attachment (maybe he did) and Rhys Ifans is funny, as he was in Notting Hill. To give "flat affect" Keanu his credit, he seems fairly athletic and carries off the football scenes reasonably well. The day after I first watched it, my kids wanted to see it, and I sat through it again without complaints. That's got to be worth something.