The Replacements

The NFL players go on strike with four games left in the season. The owner of the Washington team brings in a former coach to assemble a replacement roster. The squad Coach Jimmy McGinty gathers is made of broken-down names, among them Shane Falco, a washed-up quarterback living on a houseboat. Howard Deutch directed. Keanu Reeves plays Falco and Gene Hackman plays McGinty, with Brooke Langton, Jon Favreau, Orlando Jones and Rhys Ifans in the cast. The story rests on the 1987 NFL strike and the games the Washington team played that season with replacements. The quarterback conflict in the film mirrors the Doug Williams and Jay Schroeder argument of the period. It was shot in Baltimore at what was then PSINet Stadium. It opened on 11 August 2000 and took 50.1 million dollars worldwide against a 50 million budget, which is to say it broke even. The reviews were poor: 41 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 30 on Metacritic and two stars out of four from Ebert. Audiences disagreed, giving it an A minus CinemaScore. Who it is for: viewers who come to a sports comedy knowing the template, and anyone who likes Hackman. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a surprise. The ending is clear within the first ten minutes.