The Replacements Review
by Chad Polenz (ChadPolenz AT aol DOT com)November 14th, 2000
The Replacements
It's pretty amazing that we, the movie-going public, will still plunk down good money to watch a movie use the same story and the same jokes we've seen countless times before. There isn't many original ideas to "The Replacements" - a sports comedy about screwball amateur football players who get a chance to play in the big leagues - but at least it doesn't crash and burn because it does have its moments.
How they got Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman to star in a blatant rip-off of the "Major League" movies I'll never know. Those films were borderline B-movies and here we have two huge movie stars going through the motions of a run-of-the-mill zany comedy. But that's where the movie gets its charm - that it's so by-the-book in such an obvious way you can't help but laugh at predictable jokes and gags.
Not that the film is the funniest movie ever made or anything like that. The fact remains it is unoriginal for the most part and actually tries to get away with a generic, totally unbelievable story with all the cliches plugged into the right places.
What the movie does have going for it is that for every cliche there's a chance for a joke to work. The screenwriters apparently realized this and didn't bother to sketch out the characters and instead just give us caricatures. Reeves is the token aw-shucks hero, Hackman is the "We gotta win, you can do it"-coach. Then there's a large ensemble of supporting guys: a beserker cop who is uncontrollable; a pair of fat gangsters who take that mentality to the sport; a sumo wrestler; a prisoner on work release; a Welsh chain-smoking gambler; and a egotistical clown (played very well by Orlando Jones - the guy from those 7-Up commercials).
It's a funny premise with quite a few jokes that pay off, but the screenplay takes itself too seriously. With sports movies you have to feel like you're watching your favorite team from real life going for the championship - that's something you really can't do here.
GRADE: B-
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