The Replacements

Some would call it predictable and like every other underdog movie. For me, it’s one of my movies I watch if I am feeling blue, one of my feel good movies. Well acted, funny, and sweet hearted.

A must watch

Great underdog story & funny, this will be a cult classic I believe. Good purchase for my movie collection.

Hey, any movie made is a major undertaking - lots of people putting their heart into the process - so it always gets me when I don’t like a film. I want to so much, just for their efforts. And in the end, The Replacements is one of those films I wanted to like more, but couldn’t. Hey, it’s decent, and with two headliners like Gene Hackman and Keanu Reeves, I expected to love it - at least they were great. But in the end, what I didn’t like (and frankly, it’s what a lot of other people will love about it) is the stop and starting internet between the (irony) heart of the movie and over the top joking. For my taste the movie makers couldn’t fully commit to the genuine heart that was present and kept cutting to over the top characters (that could have had more depth) and tiny-clad cheerleaders who had little to nothing to do with the actual story. Great for cheap laughs and appealing to their young male demographic, but they lost something even those young guys could have enjoyed. This middle age guy can appreciate what they were going for, but it was clumsy and took away from what was going on every time they were making it work, so it lost me and my wife.Apparently it’s based on a real situation back in the day (I think 80s - my wife looked it up) when players went on strike. Replacements are brought in and while most coaches went with guys who were closer to actual active players, this coach (played very well by Hackman) went another way, bringing in guys who... would never make it in reality. Hence the over the top characters. It might have been cool if they’d even had these guys, but not so over the top... again, it felt like they couldn’t decide if this was a RomCom, comedy, or dramade and in the end, the hodgepodge missed the mark for us. Anyway... Reeves too is good as the QB who didn’t make it beyond a rough bowl game (that came up a lot) and yet here he’s got the age and the confidence and maturity that come along with it. These guys bond, pull together, and...The bad guys are spoiled brat NFL players. The owner should just stay out of it. The cheerleaders... what was the point? But in the end, Reeves and Hackman are the reason to watch. It wasn’t great, but it was a lot of creative people who came together to tell a story and for that, we give it 4 stars.

***BLU-RAY PICTURE QUALITY NOTES BELOW"PAIN HEALS, CHICKS DIG SCARS, GLORY LASTS FOREVER!" --- (quote sums up the tone you can expect from the movie)For those who remember the events in the NFL players strike in 1987, it wasn't very funny for fans at the time. However, this movie from 2000 makes use of that event to show us what great fodder for comedy it really was. It succeeds in part by simply never going too far awry. All the sports comedy clichés are checked and that is exactly what makes it work. It simply gives us what we have come to expect. Funny characters, lovable underdogs, situational laughs, a little romance, an outcome we know is in the pipeline - but satisfies.THE PLOT: Fictional teams are used to depict a league hit by a player's strike. Replacement players must be found. Some teams manage to buy ringers from current NFL players willing to cross the strike picket lines. Others like the "Washington Sentinels" take a more creative approach, bringing a mixture of washed-up former college players and some odd balls like a Welsh footballer with a gambling problem and a sumo wrestler who likes to gorge on hard boiled eggs. This motley crew of ex cons, psychopaths, and has-beens will have to gel and rise to the occasion if the season is to be saved and a playoff birth secured. As it happens, the cheerleading squad seems to be The Replacements as well. The head cheerleader (and QB love interest) struggles to form her squad and manages to find a gaggle of stripperific gals from the local club. You see what I mean about checking all the sports cliché boxes, and I don't mean that in a bad way.CHARACTERS: Keanu Reeves plays Shane Falco, a former college star with great skill but failing confidence after a disastrous final game in the Sugar Bowl. The show adds a surprisingly unique set of surrounding personalities. Jon Favreau is the psychopath linebacker that just wants to mow things down, even when congratulating his own teammates on the field! Orlando Jones is the motor mouth wide receiver, fastest in the game, who consequently can't actually catch. All are led by the venerable replacement coach Jimmy Mcginty (Gene Hackman). The show survives in large part to the personality quirks of these odd ball players. The cheerleaders are also hilarious, particularly in the tryouts near the start of the show. The string of absolutely awful prospective dancers are precisely what lead Annabelle to rely on the stripper recruits. I kinda wish they had kept some of the hilarious tryouts on the squad!HISTORICAL CONTEXT: The 1987 Players Strike only lasted 24 days and began after the second week. I seem to remember it feeling longer! Replacement players were quickly recruited from then recently closed CFL and USFL leagues. Many NFL players also chose to cross picket lines and continue playing. These included notables like Cowboys Randy White, 49s Joe Montana, and Patriots Doug Flutie. TV ratings dropped 20% during the few weeks of replacement players. That was actually a surprise because they thought it would be worse. Replacement games may have cost playoff births to some contender teams like previous SB champs the NY Giants, who faired poorly during the replacement stretch and then failed to make the playoffs.2015 BLU-RAY RELEASE: As I suspected, this lesser known catalog release is a passable upgrade and generally looks good. It's not the kind of title they put a huge amount of resources into a remaster. The colors are vibrant enough, but the picture is not quite as crisp in many scenes as I had hoped. If you already own the DVD, likely just the bigger fans will want to go out for the movie again on Blu-Ray.CONTENT AND FINAL THOUGHTS: This won't go down as one of the great sports movies of all time, but it's easily memorable enough for a Friday night and some good chuckles. Some of the characters are memorable. They don't go out on a limb much in any one area, and even the stripper cheerleaders are pretty tame by today's standards. However, there was a locker room scene with rear male nudity. Just remember the movie is now 15 years old at time of writing, but has aged fairly well in my opinion. I suggest a rental unless you know you are already a fan. But I definitely recommend it!

Brooke Langton and Keanu had great chemistry. And she's a doll!

Good movie, worth it

The cast in this movie is excellent.

Todo ok, con castellano de España, buen precio, buena calidad de imagen...

Great movie for sports

Love this movie

Contiene pista en castellano

Auch wenn ich an American Football überhaupt nichts finde, so ist dies trotzdem einer der mitreissensden Sportfilme, die ich kenne.Neben zahlreichen, zumeist eher unbekannten Schauspielern, die eine überraschend gute Leistung bringen, und einem sehr gut aufgelegten Gene Hackman, findet man Keanu Reeves in Topform vor.Filmzusammenfassung: Die Spieler der NFL sind in einen Streik (wegen Geld) getreten, und die Vereine müssen nun zusehen wie, und vor allen mit welchen Spielern sie die Dauer des Streiks möglichst erfolgreich bestreiten. Der Inhaber der Washington Sentinels überredet einen gealterten Football Coach (Gene Hackman) ein Team,das die streikenden Stars ersetzen soll die 4 Spiele, von denen 3 gewonnen werden müssen um in die Play-Offs zu kommen, zu trainieren, unter der Bedingung, dass er die einzige Entscheidungsgewalt bekommt, welche Spieler geholt werden.Nachdem er diese Zusage hat, holt er einen bunt zusammengewürfelten Haufen von Spielern, die irgendwann einmal zumeist recht ordentlich Football gespielt haben. Unter anderem einen Knackie auf Bewährung für die Zeit der Spiele, zwei Bodyguards, einen Sumoringer, einen Ex-Fußball Spieler (für die Field Goals, der von Rhys Ifans sehr gut gespielt wird), etc. etc. Und zu guter Letzt einen abgehalfterten Quarterback, dessen größte Leistung es war im Spiel seines Lebens zu versagen, und sich somit eine Karriere komplett verbaut hat (Keanu Reeves).Der Coach jedoch glaubt mehr an ihn, als er an sich selbst, und er (Keanu Reeves) schafft es nach anfänglichen Schwierigkeiten aus dem Haufen ein Team zu formen, das mit den anderen Teams zumindest mithalten kann.Nachdem das erste Spiel, z. T. auch etwas unglücklich verloren wurde, müssen nun in den letzten 3 Spielen 3 Siege her.Nachdem man (auch hier wieder z.T. diesmal aber mit Glück) 2 Spiele gewonnen hat, kommt nun der große Showdown gegen Dallas, das ihr bestes Team auf den Platz schicken kann, weil deren streikende Spieler vorzeitig eingelenkt haben, sowie der etatmäßige Quarterback der Sentinels, was bedeutet, dass Falco (Keanu Reeves) raus ist. Trotz des statistisch besten Quarterbacks der Liga (der vormals streikende, der zurück gekehrt ist zum letzten Spiel vor offiziellem Streikende, den Falco die ganze Zeit ersetzt hatte)., steht es gegen Dallas zur Halbzeit 0 : 17.Dann kommt Falco, der das Spiel im Fernsehen verfolgt hat, von sich aus zurück um zu helfen. Prompt wird er vom Coach als Quarterback für die zweite Halbzeit eingesetzt, und der etatmäßige Quarterback unsanft entfernt. Nun ist es an Falco das Unmögliche zu schaffen.Gegen den amtierenden Champion in Bestbesetzung einen 0:17 Rückstand in einen Sieg umzumünzen. Wird es ihm, der den Ruf hat, wenn es Ernst wird zu versagen, gelingen sein Team, das aussichtslos zurück zu liegen scheint, zum Sieg gegen das beste Team der Liga zu führen, um den Einzug in die Play-Offs (in dem das etatmäßige Team wieder spielen würde, nicht mehr sie selber!) klar zu machen..?Bild ist ein gutes DVD Bild und Ton ist 5.1 Sound in Englisch und Deutsch.Fazit: Wer Sportfilme mag, und diesen wider Erwarten noch nicht kennt, wird ihn lieben (So wie ich, als ich ihn das erste Mal gesehen habe).