• Widescreen: 1.85:1, Color, 5.1 Dolby Digital, Additional Languages: French, Subtitles: English, French, Closed Captioned, Region 1
      
• HBO First Look: Making Of The Replacements, Making The Plays: An Actor's Guide to Football, Audio Commentary, Cast/Crew Biographies & Career Highlights
  

        I n 1987, NFL players stepped off the playing field and out of their uniforms to take part in a strike against the league. Apparently, their salaries wouldn’t, as a player may have put it, “pay for the insurance on a Ferarri.” So why is it then that when we look at these people in situations like this that deep down inside our guts pounds away telling us it’s all about one five-letter word: G-R-E-E-D… ? Does a person making minimum wage laugh at another person making $20/hour when they go looking for a raise? Am I justifying NFL players in wanting more money by simply pointing out a matter of perspective? My own answer to that is an astounding: Hell no! In my book, people are given a buffer where once their wages rise above and beyond that buffer - they have reached a “take it or leave it” level of operation amongst society. One DOES NOT complain about their lack of millions amongst millions when the majority of our civilization is far less fortunate financially. I say - bring on the replacements and let those sorry bunch of greedy inflated human checking accounts lose out on a few pay checks. And in 1987 they did just that - they brought in the replacements. Now this is where the film, Replacements takes an unfortunate turn from the reality of those events (as movies so commonly do). With remarks that would indicate opposing views seen in the movie, a real replacement football player pointed out a few things in light of this film: they didn’t get respect, they didn’t appeal to the fans - and they most certainly didn’t get the girls.

But Keanu Reeves [Speed, Point Break, Matrix] isn’t your typical replacement. He and his combined group of misfits, with strong similarities to bands of football misfits of past films, show how it could have been had the world operated amongst a different series of rules and expectations. Replacements is not just a straight forward comedy, it’s a little wacky, silly at times, hilarious at others, and is nicely smoothed over by a shell of romance in an effort to make this football story appealing to men and women alike. Hey - don’t get me wrong here. I’m not about to say there aren’t female football fans worth mentions, my girlfriend is an avid fan of the flying pigskin (more so than my fanaticism at times). But when you talk romance, I can almost guarantee you with flying colors that romance is not the reason why guys will be watching this movie.

The movie had a lot of influence from the studio execs that pass films for presentation making it just as much a product of big brother as it was a vision of the directors. One can decipher this from the comments made during the director’s commentary. What does this mean? There are segments in the film that the director would have rather done without - but was overruled by the suits up top whom of course are ruled by one ideal - making money. Replacements is a genuinely interesting football film worth a rental … or even possible ownership if you’re a football fan. The film also possesses the comedic quality that makes it a good film to share with friends (i.e. repeated viewings). But, in the long run - I agree with the director … there are certainly scenes that the film would have been better without.

Speaking of the audio commentary, it’s an interesting feature of the disc as it gives the listener an idea of what it’s like to be limited in one’s control of a film production. Director Howard Deutch [Grumpier Old Men, Odd Couple II] talks on that note, but also relies heavily on the reactions pulled from his test audiences. Though considering the usage of these audiences, somewhat ironically, this director chose to keep certain scenes in that appealed to his personal senses (which is fine and dandy), but garnered no laughs from the audience. In addition to this audio commentary, the disc offers a couple straight-forward 10-minute featurettes, one of which was more entertaining then the other. HBO’s First Look: The Replacements is hosted by funny-man Orlando Jones who plays the replacement wide receiver in the film, Clifford Franklin. Some of you may better know the actor as the guy examining human backsides in the 7-UP commercial. Jones adds his own comedic flair to the featurette as it flows through behind-the-scenes footage of the production and cast & crew interviews. The latter featurette, Making the Plays: An Actors Guide to Football is a little dyer in its approach as it takes a look at how the players prepared physically and mentally to make a football movie. Aside from those features, the disc offers the standard theatrical trailer and Cast & Crew notes. The menu layout is simple with no animation and no audio - a typical uninspired layout that was a bit slow in simple moving from one option to the next on the main menu as the disc loads still images for each menu option.

There are no degrading qualities to mention about the video, it is right on par with new film releases to DVD. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is not nearly as active as Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday, but rather takes a back seat and does what it can to add ambient support from the roar of the crowd during on-field action to the subtle nuances of everyday occurrences.

Warner’s DVD release is no game winning touchdown, but The Replacements is a fun movie with its fair share of laughs. A solid field goal amongst football films.