Funny Football.

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2000)

THE REPLACEMENTS is the funniest football film that I have seen since THE LONGEST YARD with Burt Reynolds. I have always enjoyed movies about sports, in fact I find them more entertaining than the real thing. Yes, they are predictable, but at least I know who the people are. You can sort of call this a football version of the baseball classic, THE BAD NEWS BEARS. The professional players of the Washington Sentinels decide to go on strike during the season. The team owner, O' Neil (Jack Warden) doesn't want the team to quit during mid-season, so he relies on coach McGinty (Gene Hackman) to help find the team some replacement players. McGinty can find the replacement players, trouble is that each of these players has a excellent quality and a negative quality. There's Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), a excellent quarterback who is still living in the shadow of his horrible defeat of the Sugar Bowl game some years ago. Bateman (Jon Favreau) is a tackle happy defense player, the only problem is that he will also tackle his own teammates. Gruff (Rhys Ifans) is a excellent kicker, but he has a attitude, drinking, and gambling problem. And there's Franklin (Orlando Jones) a superior runner, one of the fastest, it's just that he can't catch anything. McGinty has a few weeks to get this team into the finals, while the strike goes on. I enjoyed the humor of this film, since that is what is important for this film. It does have some new jokes for the sport, and like I said it's the funniest football film since THE LONGEST YARD and the climax of M*A*S*H*. And speaking of M*A*S*H*, the cheerleaders led by Falco's love intrest Annabelle (a very pretty Brooke Langton), is the most dinginess and funniest cheerleaders since then. The acting is also fine, I got past the Keanu Reeves slow talking character. It's not one of his best like PARENTHOOD and MATRIX. But it's far better than MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING and JOHNNY MEMONIC. Gene Hackman gives a wonderful performance as the football veteran who enjoys his replacements more than his regulars since the replacements play the game for the love of it, not the money. And I also enjoyed Jon Favreau as the energetic tackle guard who is always excited. Rhys Ifans is also funny as the "slobbish" Gruff, if you enjoyed him in NOTTING HILL, you'll enjoy him in this film. And Faizon Love and Michael Taliferro who play the Jackson brothers are also very enjoyable. This is a decent sports film, director Howard Deutch (of PRETTY IN PINK and GREAT OUTDOORS fame) did a much better job with this film than his previous effort, the dreadful ODD COUPLE II. And for lightweight summer entertainment, this film does give that to the audience. This in no INSIDER or AMERICAN BEAUTY, it's just a enjoyable film. So for those comedy and sport lovers out there, this is a nice treat. **** (out of five)