The Replacements

August 11th, 2000







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The Replacements

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Keanu Reeves stars as Shane FalcoGene Hackman as Coach McGinty and Keanu Reeves as Shane FalsoAlicia Witt at event of The ReplacementsGene Hackman & Keanu Reeves star in The Replacements - coming soon from Warner BrothersOrlando Jones stars as FranklinJon Favreau stars as Bateman

Plot
During a pro football strike, the owners hire substitute players.

Release Year: 2000

Rating: 6.3/10 (27,000 voted)

Critic's Score: 30/100

Director: Howard Deutch

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Brooke Langton

Storyline
A comedy based on the 1987 professional football players' strike. Gene Hackman plays the coach of the team, Jack Warden is the owner, Brett Cullen is the All-Pro quarterback that goes on strike and Keanu Reeves is the "scab" who replaces the star QB.

Cast:
Keanu Reeves - Shane Falco
Gene Hackman - Jimmy McGinty
Brooke Langton - Annabelle Farrell
Orlando Jones - Clifford Franklin
Faizon Love - Jamal Jackson
Michael Taliferro - Andre Jackson (as Michael 'Bear' Taliferro)
Ace Yonamine - Jumbo
Troy Winbush - Walter Cochran
David Denman - Brian Murphy
Jon Favreau - Daniel Bateman
Michael Jace - Earl Wilkinson / Ray Smith
Rhys Ifans - Nigel 'The Leg' Gruff
Gailard Sartain - Pilachowski
Art LaFleur - Banes
Brett Cullen - Eddie Martel

Taglines: Pain heals, Chicks dig scars... Glory lasts forever



Details

Official Website: Warner Bros. | Warner Bros. |

Release Date: 11 August 2000

Filming Locations: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $11,039,214 (USA) (13 August 2000) (2754 Screens)

Gross: $50,054,511 (Worldwide)



Technical Specs

Runtime:  | Australia:



Did You Know?

Trivia:
The film is set in Washington D.C. but was actually filmed in and around Baltimore including the Baltimore Ravens' stadium.

Goofs:
Continuity: On the last play of the Dallas (final) game, when Brian catches the winning touchdown, he catches the ball inside the end-zone, falls to the ground, and slides out the back of end-zone When he makes the catch and lands, the end-zone is green with no paint on it, and he slides into the solid white painted area behind the end-zone (you see the pylon meaning he has gone out-of-bounds after securing the catch). The next shot (from further away) he is in the middle of the end-zone, in-bounds, and the end-zone is painted with letters (he is to the left of the 'S' in 'Washington'.

Quotes:
Jimmy McGinty: These are people I've been keeping my eye on over the years. They all played football somewhere, not all of them in the pros, but they all have something unique to bring to the game. We're going to try to get these people together and try to put together a winning team. If nothing else, they should be fun to watch.
[shows first picture]
Jimmy McGinty: Daniel Bateman, SWAT team officer. Awarded the Purple Heart for losing a kidney during the Gulf War
[cuts to Bateman raiding a drug lab]
Jimmy McGinty: He was a walk-on at Michigan State before he gave up football to sneak back into the service for one more tour of duty.
[goes to next picture]
Jimmy McGinty: Clifford Franklin. Great attitude, great desire, and *the* fastest son of a bitch I've ever seen.
[cuts to a grocery store and a teen stealing a Twinkie and running away]
Korean Store Owner: Hey! Clifford, Twinkie!
[Clifford dashes past. He easily catches up to the kid, jogging alongside while the kid's dashing at full sprint]
[...]



User Review

Unoriginal but hilarious

Rating: 8/10

Despite the fact that this film is a totally unoriginal and predictable retread of a dozen `losers to winners' sports stories, it is so hysterically funny that I didn't even care. The story is thin at best. The NFL is having a players strike and scabs are called in to finish the season. Our heroes are low on ability but high on desire and peculiarity. The quarterback, Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), once had a promising career, but he fell apart psychologically when his team was pummelled in a college bowl game and he was labelled a player that folds in the big game. Of course, while visiting the NFL, Shane falls in love with the head cheerleader (Brooke Langton) who never dates players (except of course this once).

All this is merely a mundane excuse for a raucous and silly comedy that has some sidesplitting moments. To enjoy this film you really need two things. You need to love football and you need to enjoy slapstick, banana peel comedy. I realize that this limits the audience considerably, but for those who qualify (and I am one), this movie is a scream.

Director Howard Deutch (Pretty in Pink, Grumpier Old Men) did a great job on the football sequences. He hired 45 professional football players (Former NFL players, Canadian Football League, etc.) to do the football scenes and sent the actors to a three-week football camp. The action looked real because it was real. The players were told to play and hit the way they normally would. Of course, the plays were choreographed, but they were real football plays.

The comedy was lowbrow, outrageous and crass, with a great deal of physical comedy. The cheerleader scenes were a riot, especially the cheerleader tryouts. The scene where they started pantomiming sex acts to distract the opposing team was priceless. There was also sharp-witted football humor that required more than just a passing knowledge of the game.

There isn't much serious that can be said about the acting. Keanu Reeves tried to play an earnest comeback and romantic role amidst all the foolishness and it really didn't fit with the rest of the film. However, he was an excellent athlete. He did most of his own on-field shots and looked very believable as the quarterback. Gene Hackman was good when he was making snappy wisecracks, but his inspirational `Hoosiers' imitation was misplaced.

This film really belonged to the supporting actors like Orlando Jones (Clifford Franklin), Michael Taliferro and Faizon Love (The Jackson Twins), Ace Yonamine (Jumbo Fumiko), Rhys Ifans (Nigel `The Leg' Gruff) and all the cheerleaders who made the comedy work. Jon Favreau gets a special mention as the crazy S.W.A.T. officer turned linebacker who took the wild man role to the next level.

This film won't be fun for everyone, but it will have certain people falling off their chairs. I rated it an 8/10. Subtract two points if you aren't amused by slapstick and boorish behavior, and another two if you aren't a football fan. For the rest of you, be prepared to split a gut.





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