Conventional

Rating: 4/10 (30 April 2003)

I usually have a bad predisposition to movies which have as a central point American football. Let me be straight forward: I don't like it and the movies about it usually suck big time. "The Replacements" did get a chance just for the interesting actors...and because of one more fact. This whole sport can't be serious. At least I don't want to see it being serious if serious means Any Given Sunday-eyes flying on the field. To present a pretty serious problem in a comedy seems all right in this case. If it only weren't so conventional and unspectacular.
SPOILERS
The story is a total miss. Everything so predictable, everything so obvious and...simple. Not only the story but the characters too. There's nothing more to them than one sees in their introductory scenes. A convict here, a cop there, a sumo wrestler next to them and you've got the whole picture. All there is to them are their "professions". Everything is like a big window: you can see very clearly through it.
Actually all there is to this movie is "the soul". Something which Any Given Sunday most certainly didn't have. Something which can support a whole movie filled with boring and forseeable things. This movie most certainly isn't great but it's ok. Unlike AGS. Sorry, I just have to keep comparing it with that movie, because it's the most recent one I've seen which regards the same subject.
The actors are...well, actors. Nothing very special too them and nobody impresses. It keeps being nice though to see funny faces. So, as a final conclusion: watch this if you really don't have anything much better to do...or if you want to hear some smart things and maybe learn what stands before what. As in heart before money...but hey, that's something we all know. Right? Probably a 6.5/10 Take it as you want.