Taglines: Pros on strike. Everyday guys get to play.
The Replacements movie storyline. A fictional pro football league finds themselves hit with a players’ strike with the season still needing to be finished. Washington Sentinels owner Edward O’Neil calls a former coach of his, Jimmy McGinty, telling McGinty that he and the rest of the teams are going to finish the final four games of the season with replacement players. O’Neil asks McGinty to coach the Sentinels the rest of the season, along with the pressure of winning three of the last four games to make the playoffs. McGinty accepts, on the condition that he will also be given the freedom to sign the players he wants with O’Neil not allowed to interfere.
With O’Neil accepting his requests, McGinty builds his team of different varying players that he believes can make a winning team. As his quarterback, McGinty chooses Shane Falco, a former All-American from Ohio State whose career went to pieces after a horrendous Sugar Bowl game, and now lives in a houseboat near the Sentinels’ stadium. Falco initially refuses, but McGinty convinces him, believing that Falco can still be the player he was meant to be.
The replacement players are greeted to their first practice hostilely by the striking players, calling the replacements “scabs”, and throwing eggs at them, and Falco, who arrives late, gets his truck turned over. Head cheerleader Annabelle Ferrell, who has to find new cheerleaders since the originals apparently went on strike as well, reluctantly hires strippers when the other tryouts go terribly bad. After practice, Annabelle drives Falco home and surprises him with her vast football knowledge.
The replacements’ first game is against Detroit, and the team initially struggles to get along, causing the Sentinels to fall behind early. Falco tries to rally the team back, but on the last play, he panics when he sees a pending blitz and calls an audible, which falls short of the winning touchdown. McGinty berates Falco for what he did, telling him that “winners always want the ball when the game’s on the line.”
At a local bar, several of the replacements lament over their loss, when several of the striking players, led by their prima donna quarterback Eddie Martel, arrive and taunt the replacements. When Falco stands up to Martel, a brawl follows, leading to the replacements being arrested, but they build a bond in the process, dancing together in their cell before McGinity bails them out. Annabelle meets Shane the next day, having heard what happened, and tells him that he’s the first quarterback she’s seen in a long time be so selfless, and a connection starts to grow with the two of them.
The Replacements is a 2000 American sports comedy film directed by Howard Deutch. It stars Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Brooke Langton, Jon Favreau and Jack Warden in what would be his last film appearance. The film opened at the third position at the North American box office making $11,039,214 USD in its opening weekend, behind Space Cowboys and Hollow Man which was on its second consecutive week at the top spot. It eventually grossed $44 million domestically and $6 million internationally to over $50 million worldwide.
The Replacements (2000)
Directed by: Howard Deutch
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Orlando Jones, Jon Favreau, Brooke Langton, Rhys Ifans, Ace Yonamine, Troy Winbush, Gailard Sartain, Art LaFleur
Screenplay by: Vince McKewin
Production Design by: Dan Bishop
Cinematography by: Tak Fujimoto
Film Editing by: Seth Flaum, Bud S. Smith
Costume Design by: Jill M. Ohanneson
Set Decoration by: Maria Nay
Art Direction by: Gary Kosko
Music by: John Debney
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some crude sexual humor and language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: August 11, 2000
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