Much better than you'd think for a straight-to-video film about American football

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2001)

I think it was a mistake to make this a straight-to-video film in the UK. It was probably done that way because films about U.S. sports often bomb over here. But Channel 4 have been showing the NFL on UK TV for many years, and besides, this film is as much about team spirit and getting a second chance at life as it is about football. It's a good light-hearted comedy -- and by "good", I mean it doesn't go all out for gags in the "Naked Gun" fashion, it's more that the comedy arises from a bunch of very different guys (and gals) trying to work together.
I watched the "Director's Commentary" on the DVD, and it became clear that the film was chopped to smithereens in the cutting room -- among scenes that were lost were (POSSIBLE SPOILERS START HERE) large parts of the first meeting between Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman, a locker room scene with Rhys Ifans where he tries to encourage the guys with a Welsh song which is all about getting killed (sounds like some Scottish songs I know :-(), the fact that Martell placed the tripwire in the tunnel before the opening game, and even an entire character - a striking player who crossed the picket line and became a "replacement" - who never made it into production. (SPOILERS END HERE) As a result, one or two minor plot lines in the film go nowhere, and some of the characters are more stereotyped than I'd like. However, the commentary also makes clear some production successes, notably Gene Hackman's ad-libbing, and the second unit who shot 17 football plays in 9.5 minutes at half-time in a Baltimore Ravens game! All credit to these guys for producing a film that isn't an all-time great, but is well worth picking up for a lighthearted evening's entertainment.