The Replacements (2000)

 
THE REPLACEMENTS, the first film for Keanu Reeves since THE MATRIX 
and a football comedy no less (whoa), has your standard sports und-
er-dog set-up: a professional players strike at the end of the sea-
son leaves the D.C. team with four games to go.  Since they're also 
only three wins away from the playoffs-- and haven't been in years 
-- the walking cadaver owner (Jack Warden) starts signing "scabs," 
plus one old pro to coach 'em (Gene Hackman, looking more than a 
*little* like Lee J. Cobb as he continues to age gracefully).  Fil-
ling the ranks of the replacements is a (mostly) motley crew of 
misfits, including a sumo wrestler (Ace Yonamine), a Welsh soccer 
player (Rhys Ifans), and a bloodthirsty SWAT-team member (Jon Fav-
reau, bug-eyed).  Personality clashes ensue, no shit, plus a ton of 
wacky game footage.  (See: line dancing, end zone.)  Reeves plays 
the QB and the movie's most mellow (if downright morose) character.  
Er, *ensemble* character.  (No lion's share of screen time for him 
or anyone else!)  And there's also a love interest, Brooke Langton, 
as head of the equally colorful cheerleading squad.  (The latter 
comprised chiefly of ex-strippers, who strut their "PG"-rated stuff 
on the sidelines.)  

Howard Deutch directs.  You know, the auteur of such contemporary 
classics as THE GREAT OUTDOORS, GETTING EVEN WITH DAD, and GRUMPIER 
OLD MEN.  Here, he displays such expert expertise as a consistently 
weak sense of comic timing and the near-total smothering of the 
soundtrack in pop songs.  I mean, right down to the jaw-dropping 
cliched inclusion of Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of 
Business!"  Not that Homer Simpson would mind...  There's also the 
unpleasant whiff of a sentimental streak that, thankfully, trans-
lates into a mere *handful* of (slightly) serious moments.  (Even 
better: there's not a single moment of slapstick to report in the 
entire film!)  Eh, I can't recall laughing more than three or four 
times, but Saturday night's sneak-preview audience seemed to enjoy 
it.  Maybe they're football fans...  With Orlando Jones, Brett Cul-
len, David Denman, Gailard Sartain, Art LeFleur, Michael Taliferro, 
Faizon Love, Pat Summerall, and John Madden, who as a sportscaster 
(duh) gets the best line in the movie:  "I love to see a fat man 
score."  (Rated "PG-13"/~100 min.)

Grade: C

Copyright 2000 by Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros                    

Originally posted to triangle.movies as MOVIE HELL: Picking Scabs