Touches You

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This movie is entertaining, but it's basically one giant straw man argument glorifying the team owners position concerning player's salaries. The professional players are all greedy jerks while the owners are in it for the "love of the game". Here's the reality:--Forbes estimates that a team purchased for $180 million would be worth $2.4 billion 20 years later (based upon Jeff Laurie's purchase of the Eagles in 1996), and that is not counting income generated over those 20 years, just purchase and sale price. That translates to about a 13 percent annual capital growth.-- On average, Forbes calculates that NFL teams earn $89 million in annual operating income before debt service and taxes.-- The average NFL player income is $1.9 million/year, but this is highly misleading because a relatively small number of players make larger incomes while most make a lot less for a much shorter time. According to Business Insider, 70 percent of players in the NFL are between 22 and 27, and their average salary is closer to $1.4 million/year.-- The average career length in the NFL is about 6 years according to the NFL and 3.3 years according to the player's association. Less than 10 percent play past 30.-- 96 percent of former player's brains studied post mortem showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy; basically, severe brain damage that leads to horrific conditions later in life. This doesn't mean 96 percent of players have this, but it does mean these guys are putting themselves at serious risk for their careers.-- According to the book "League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth", the league (i.e. the owners and administrators) probably knew about the long-term health complications of playing NFL football for years and worked hard to keep it out of the news and undercut studies about it.Yes, NFL players still make a lot more than most of us ever will, but I have trouble thinking the owners are the good guys and the players are all greedy tools. Whenever I see this movie I can't help thinking about all of this, entertaining or not.

Jimmy (Gene Hackman) has been offered a less than stellar job. Its the late eighties and the professional football league's players are on strike. It will be Jimmy's job, if he accepts it, to coach a crew of "scab players" for a team called the Washingon Sentinels. Unconventional anyway, Jimmy signs on, but, only on the promise that he will be given total control from the owner (Jack Warden). It is so. From there, Jimmy starts to assemble a team, which includes a once promising quarterback, Shane (Keanu Reeves), a Welsh kicker (Rhys Ifans), a slow-witted-but-mighty tackle (Jon Favreau) and so on. Jim evens gets a lineman who resembles a sumo wrestler. Naturally, the players are pelted with eggs when there bus arrives at the stadium and doom is predicted. Even the regular cheerleaders honor the strike, so the new leader (Brooke Langton), has to recruit her own squad, picking ladies from the local strip parlor, since no one else can dance. So, it begins. Before long, the Sentinels are doing well, surprising even John Madden and Pat Somerall, who cover the games. Also, Shane has eyes for the head cheerleader but she is a tough sell. However, the lady may protest too much. Then, too, rumors abounds about the return of the official players. How will this rough-and-tumble season go? This adorable film is a champion in the realm of sports films and BEYOND. It is very, very funny, from the cheerleader who can't spell to the footballer (Favreau) who can run folks over but has to have strategies explained numerous times. If you are looking for a demeanor elevator, this one is first rate. Its also very honest in its look at the world of football, romance, and human nature in general. Kudos to all responsible. As for the cast, this is definitely one of Reeves' best movies. He is strikingly handsome, humorous and turns up the heat in the kissing scenes. Whew. Hackman, Warden, Orlando Jones, Langton, Favreau, Ifans and ALL of the others do superior work as well. In fact, they are all too comical for words. Also fine are the costumes, sets (Reeves lives on a houseboat), script and go-for-broke direction. Turn off the daily rerun offerings and replace them with a showing of this great flick. The Replacements is a minor classic.

Well, you can get a chuckle or two out of this film, maybe even find some inspiration or cheer for the underdog, but for people who know ANYTHING about football, this moving is just one mistake after another. Whomever edited this thing should be drummed out of Hollywood. Just go to the goofs section and that might begin to list all the continuity and factual errors. Players on the field, then off the field in the next shot. Jus the problems with how the structure of the team is built makes no sense. Why fire a coach and hire a new one during a strike? Why no backup quarterback? Why are players playing both ways? What is a QB doing on a kickoff team? it goes on and on and drives me crazy.

The Replacements is the kind of movie they should be showing in film school. We can all look at Chinatown, Don't Look Now, Witness, Bringing Up Baby, Tokyo Monogatari, ET, Tootsie or Crimson Tide and see why they work well. It would be more of a challenge to take a heap of dung like The Replacements and say, "Right, fix that." They ticked off all the boxes; a reluctant hero steps up for one final chance at glory and redemption. Mentored by a grizzly old coach, supported by a wacky but loyal group of peers, he battles adversity, wins the game, and gets the girl. It could be Major League with more heart, or Bull Durham with more laughs.Except it doesn't work. It isn't funny (I felt for Gene Hackman trying to wring a laugh out of mis-pronouncing 'wiry', I just wanted to go up and pat him on the back, say 'never mind, mate', buy him a beer...), and there is zero drama. The prison dance routine to 'I Will Survive' probably takes the prize for worst scene of all. I think they tried for a pastiche, aiming at camp, but it is just... so bad. It is like watching one of those cabaret circuit stand-up comics dying slowly on stage, determined to make it through his routine despite the rising indifference of the audience. This is an absolute train-crash, bombed out horror of a movie, a real lesson in 'How Not To.' It does for the sports genre what Wing Commander did for sci-fi. I hope someone one day gets to record Hackman answering the question "Why?". The other actors can at least say, "I wanted to work with Gene Hackman." What on earth is his excuse?