Product Details

• Actors: Gene Hackman, Keanu Reeves, Keith David, Jon Favreau, Greg Goossen
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: November 28, 2000
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (155 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003CXLV
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,921 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Replacements (Snap Case)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Replacements manages to be both completely formulaic and yet immensely enjoyable. When a professional football players' strike happens, the owner of a fictitious team, the Washington Sentinels, commissions maverick coach Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman) to pull together a team. McGinty selects a collection of talented oddballs--a Welsh soccer player, a sumo wrestler, a couple of professional bodyguards--with athletic pasts, figuring that if it doesn't work out as a game, it might as well be a circus. To lead the team, he finds Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), a once-promising player who had a disastrous championship game. Naturally, despite squabbling and bickering, a roguish camaraderie develops through a mixture of racial infighting, harassment from the striking professionals, and a big bar brawl--after which they're all thrown in jail and perform the most improbable impromptu dance number ever committed to film. The mixture of cheerfully cliché plot mechanics, an engaging collection of supporting actors (including Orlando Jones, Rhys Ifans from Notting Hill, and Jon Favreau from Swingers), and sheer ridiculousness somehow combines to make The Replacements completely entertaining. Reeves is somehow turning into a pleasant leading man; he even emotes convincingly in this movie. And let's face it, Gene Hackman is quite possibly the greatest actor alive, able to speak the trashiest dialogue with fierce conviction. Plus, just to prove that the tight pants and close huddles of football are heterosexual, there are many, many shots of cheerleaders going through stripper-inspired routines. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unoriginal but hilarious, December 7, 2000

By 

"flickjunkie" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Replacements (Snap Case) (DVD)

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 pummeled in a college bowl game and he was labeled 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. The scenes with an incredulous Pat Summerall and John Madden were also fabulous.

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.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Always Good for a Laugh, February 20, 2004

By 

"dasocokid" (Apple Valley, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Replacements (Snap Case) (DVD)

This film is essentially Necessary Roughness reincarnated for the 21st century. Except this time, Kathy Ireland has been traded for a wise-cracking, nipple-rubbing Welch kicker.

Despite the similar plot lines, The Replacements has enough surprises and character twists to stand alone. The musical score is simply incredible, and does a fantastic job of setting the mood for each scene. I've gotten more miles out of this dvd than many "critically acclaimed" films.

Bottom Line: It's uplifting, hilarious fun that is worth every penny. Anyone who has had a dream will enjoy this one.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Football's the one with the pointy ball, right?, April 28, 2005

By 

John A Lee III "jal3" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Replacements (Snap Case) (DVD)

For the record, I don't know a lot about football. I was one of those guys who figured that football was for those poor souls who couldn't make it in the band. I am not qualified to pass judgement on how good the football sequences in this movie. I AM QUALIFIED, however to pass judgement on what entertains me. This movie qualifies.

The situation is an NFL strike. Some scab players are hired to play in the pros in the place of the "real players". Against all the odds, they do well. That pretty well sums it up and it follows, I think, all of the standard cliches. That is not what the movie is about, though. It is about laughs and it is about heart. This movie has both.

This is not going to go down as one of the great comedies of all time. It does, however, have its moments. Some of the laughs are just chuckles and a few are great big belly laughs. I think the sumo wrestler qualifies for the latter.

The movie also has heart. The guys on the team do their best. When faced with a choice between an all-pro prima donna and "their guy", they make the right choice. They do their best and they triumph. Maybe football isn't as wimpy as I thought.