|
The
Replacements
(2000)
 In
a parallel NFL universe -- one obviously inspired by the 1987
season -- it's late in the season, and the players have gone
on strike. Never-was QB "Footsteps" Shane Falco (Keanu
Reeves), whose biggest claim to fame is a blowout Sugar Bowl
loss, is recruited by new Washington Sentinels head coach
Jimmy McGinty (a wily Gene Hackman) to lead a bunch of misfit
"replacement" players and keep the franchise's
playoff hopes alive. Director Howard Deutch's colorful cast of
scabs includes gangsters, gamblers, inmates, and a berserk
SWAT officer (Jon Favreau of Swingers and Friends
fame). The normally unaffecting Reeves is dutiful and
square-jawed in his Cinderella shoes, and it doesn't hurt that
-- à la Speed -- he has a perky, cute Sandra Bullock
clone to fall for (Brooke Langton as the head cheerleader).
The result is a gritty screwball sports romp worthy of
comparison with The Longest Yard and North Dallas
Forty: it's underdog-rooting infectious, and the
ass-slapping antics of the "replacement"
cheerleaders from the Pussycat Lounge are at once titillating
and uproarious.
Keanu Reeves previous
movies:
|
