Heroic, Romantic, Keanu Reeves

Rating: Null/10 (24 August 2000)

Keanu Reeves as a football hero? About as likely as that slacker dude from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure becoming a major action hero in a flick about a speeding bus. Or that pale prisoner in Bram Stoker's Dracula making it big in a sci-fi movie about something called The Matrix. Believe it when you see it, because Keanu makes one great football hero.
After a humiliating loss at a past Sugar Bowl game, Shane Falco is a retired quarterback recruited by coach McGintey (Gene Hackman)to finish out the season for the Washington Sentinels, whose "real" players have gone on strike. Shane winds up leading a ragtag team, which includes Jon Favreau, of Swingers and Orlando Jones, of "Make Seven, Up Yours." Shane also falls for the bartender/head cheerleader (Brooke Langton).
What strikes me about this movie is how sweet it is. It is genuine filmmaking that's entertaining and romantic. Reeves has a great rapport with Hackman and his teammates and a good chemistry with Langton. I love how the "real" football players come off as whiny, money-grubbing babies.
It's a must-see. Highly reccommended.