Line #34 Film/TheReplacements2000


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_replacements_2000_poster.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory...lasts forever."''
4	-->-- '''Shane Falco'''
5
6	A not-so-typical football movie made in 2000, directed by Howard Deutch and starring Creator/KeanuReeves and Creator/GeneHackman.
7
8	A [[RagTagBunchOfMisfits rag-tag group of semi-pro and amateur football players]] are collected by an esoteric former coach for one last shot at the big time. Thanks to a football strike by dozens of pro players, and in some cases (notably Washington, the team of focus in the movie) entire teams, replacements are hired to keep the team's standings intact 'till the end of the season... they turn out to be even more awesome than the actual team they're replacing.
9
10	''It's nasty out there...''
11
12	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] the Creator/DisneyChannel [[WesternAnimation/TheReplacements animated series of the same name]].
13
14	----
15	!!This film provides examples of:
16
17	* AllGuysWantCheerleaders: Shane falls for the gorgeous head cheerleader for the Sentinels but in his defense, she's sweet, funny, and probably knows more about football than he does...even if she does drive like a maniac.
18	** She's a cheerleader who owns a sports bar. That ''has'' to be a GeekyTurnOn for sports fans.
19	* ArsonMurderAndLifesaving: After the BarBrawl, the coach tells the team that if anything like it happens again, there will be no place on the team for any of them... but for the record, he wishes he'd been there to see Martel get his ass kicked.
20	* ArtisticLicenseSports: Assuming the league is an NFL {{Expy}}, the movie bends a number of rules for RuleOfCool and/or RuleOfFunny. Most notable is the "Kick ass on one" play, in which every single member of the offense proceeds to beat up an opposing player, resulting in so many penalty yards that the next snap is on their own 1 yard line. Funny and cool... except by NFL rules, only one penalty can be enforced on a single play, meaning the Sentinels should have only been backed up 15 yards.
21	* AsHimself: NFL announcers Pat Summerall and John Madden play themselves, doing the play-by-play for the football games in the movie.
22	* AsTheGoodBookSays: Preacher quotes part of Ezekiel 21:31 whilst in the middle of a bar fight.
23	** For the record, this is the passage: "And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy."
24	* BadassBoast: On the final play of the game, Andre Jackson lets the other team know how it's all going to end.
25	-->'''Andre Jackson:''' We ain't losin' this game.
26	* BadassPreacher: One of the replacement players is a minister, and gets to kick some ass in the BarBrawl.
27	** Not only that, he quotes Bible passages while beating the hell out of striking players attacking him.
28	* BangBangBANG: When Jamal shoots out Martel's windshield with his Glock, it sounds like a cannon firing.
29	* BarBrawl: The pro players show up to taunt and mock their replacements. Said replacements end up in jail after the brawl. The pro players, on the other hand, likely ended up in the ER.
30	* BasedOnATrueStory: of the 1987 NFL strike.
31	* BashBrothers: Jamal and Andre Jackson, Shane's guards. Their dayjob is working as bodyguards for rapper ODB. They, uh, kind of let a mob of fans get ahold of him, when they get the phonecall to play football.
32	** In fact, it's mentioned that they used to be in pro ball together, but once one of them was traded to another team, neither performed up to par. Apparently, they only really kick ass when they're on the field together.
33	* BattleCry: Jumbo, the Japanese Sumo wrestler turned offensive tackle has a good one.
34	-->'''Jumbo:''' ''Nan desu ka''?!!!!
35	** It approximates into something similar to 'who wants some?'
36	* {{The Berserker}}: Danny Bateman. Send him in and he'll pretty much flatten anything in front of him.
37	* BigGame: The Sentinels' playoff hopes are pinned on the game with Dallas at the end of the season. And all of Dallas's pro players have crossed the picket line.
38	* BittersweetEnding: The replacements win the season for the Sentinels, but now that the strike is over, they all have to return to their mundane lives with little to show for it but the knowledge they definitely had what it takes.
39	* BlackKnight: Earl Wilkinson was a top college football player until he went to prison for beating up a cop. He becomes a replacement but he is under a different name and has to wear his helmet at all times.
40	* BreakingSpeech: Martel drops one of these on Falco after his crossing the picket line means Falco is out of the lineup. It starts as a BackhandedApology and quickly goes downhill from there.
41	-->'''Martel:''' I just wanted to tell you before you left... I'm sorry. [...] I think it's terrible what they do to you guys. They make you believe that you're better than you really are. Then they pull the rug out from under you. The cruelest thing they can give guys like you... is hope. [...] [Annabelle] deserves better. You're a sinking ship. Don't drag her down with you.
42	* BullSeeingRed: In football practice, the quarterback wears a red jersey as an indicator that the practicing defensive players aren't to tackle him. Bateman forgets this and savagely tackles Falco several times in practice, saying he's like a bull seeing red. Falco tells him "Red means stop!"
43	** Later on, when [[JerkJock Martel]] (who is wearing a red shirt) is making fun of the deaf teammate, Falco tells Bateman, "Remember what I told you about red shirts? Forget it!" The bar brawl ensues.
44	* CaptainOblivious: Danny gets so caught up in his BerserkerRage that he often forgets the actual goal of the game, as when he recovers an onside kick and then keeps running around the field with it as opposed to downing the ball, forcing Falco to tackle him.
45	* CareerEndingInjury: Shane Falco suffered a concussion while Rev. Walter Cochran blew out his knee. They bond over their injuries.
46	* CripplingOverspecialization: Jamal and Andre's football careers never took off because they only work well together.
47	* CurbStompBattle: The replacement players hand this put to the pros in spades in the bar fight.
48	** [[spoiler: Highlighted by Danny, a SWAT team captain and decorated war veteran, throwing primadonna QB Eddie Martel around like a rag doll.]]
49	* CurseCutShort: A news clip is shown of Martel in the locker room trying to "explain" the Sentinel's strike when an angry team member walks up and says: "Do you know how much insurance costs on a Ferrari, motherf--"
50	* DancePartyEnding: The final scene of the film has the replacement players line dancing one more time to "I Will Survive."
51	* DistractedByTheSexy: Because the Sentinels' cheerleaders are almost all strippers, during their second game, the cheerleading squad breaks into an incredibly sexy and over the top dance sequence, which distracts the opposing team, ''and the referee'', and results in the entire team being called for a False Start penalty.
52	* DownToTheLastPlay: Subverted at first. They originally line up for a field goal with 12 seconds left to send the game into overtime, but Nigel admits that he has to miss the kick or the mafia will take away his pub. Falco turns the field goal into a fake and scores, but the play is called back by a penalty. Then the trope is played straight on the next play.
53	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Annabelle, as Shane once has the misfortune of learning when she drives him back to his boat.
54	* DudeNotFunny: In-universe example. In the bar, Martel starts making fun of the replacement players' deaf team member. They do not take it well.
55	* EmbarrassingNickname: "Footsteps" Falco, so named because he once took a phantom sack because he "thought he heard footsteps."
56	* {{Expy}}: With his fedora and the way he holds his rolled up play sheet on the field, [=McGinty=] bears more than a striking resemblance to Tom Landry.
57	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: One of Martel's teammates makes the mistake of calling Jamal (One of Shane's guards) a 'Son of a Bitch'. Jamal takes a moment to absorb the comment, then calmly shoots out the driver's-side window of Martel's sportscar.
58	* FakeShemp: Probably alot during the football sequences, since they're all wearing pads and helmets, but most egregiously when they're in prison and Keanu has his hat on and pulled really low so you can't see his face only when they are dancing.
59	* FanDisservice: ''Do not'' bring a TV camera into the locker room with these players. You will regret it. "Olé, olé, olé, olé!"
60	* FanserviceCarWash: The substitute cheerleaders turn out to be a bunch of moonlighting strippers. Their halftime show involved The Music/DonnaSummer song "Bad Girls," a snazzy red car, lots of soapy water, and the kind of dancing that usually involves dollar bills stuffed into a G-String.
61	* ForeShadowing: Coach [=McGinty=] tells Falco, after the latter changes a play to a hand-off when he expects a blitz coming, thus losing the game, that "winners always want the ball when the game is on the line." In the final minute of the last game of the movie, we get this exchange:
62	-->'''[=McGinty=]''': What's it gonna be, Shane?\
63	'''Falco''': I want the ball.\
64	'''[=McGinty=]''': Winners always do.
65	%% * Getting Crap Past The Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
66	* GroinAttack: Nigel during the bar fight.
67	-->'''Nigel''': [''beckons a really big guy''] C'mon! C'mon! C'mon, STOP! [''kicks the guy in the crotch''] [[PreAssKickingOneLiner Let's play football, bitch!]] [''kicks the guy in the forehead'']
68	* HandicappedBadAss: Tight end Brian Murphy, who [=McGinty=] notes would have been a first round draft pick if he wasn't deaf.
69	* TheHeart: Invoked by [=McGinty=] as why he wants Falco over Martel; Shane is the heart of the team. His team toasts him the night before the final game in recognition of this as well (when they think he is gone for good).
70	* IndyPloy: More than a few plays boil down to this and luck.
71	** Like Shane's reaction to the same player tackling him over and over: Let the guy through the defending line, then drill him in the face with the football. It works.
72	* InformedAbility: Martel is mentioned several times to be a very good quarterback, but hasn't brought the Sentinels to the playoffs in 7 years and shows nothing during the film that would agree with the comments.
73	* InsultBackfire:
74	-->'''Martel''': Nobody can beat Dallas with these losers.\
75	'''Falco''': I can.
76	** Martel seems to live to set himself up for these:
77	-->'''Martel''': This doesn't change anything, Falco! I'm an all-pro quarterback, I've got ''two'' Super Bowl rings! And you'll never be anything more than a replacement player.
78	-->'''Shane''': Yeah. Yeah, I can live with that.
79	** "Deaf" does not mean "oblivious".
80	--> '''Murphy ''': The great thing about being deaf is that it’s easy to ignore assholes like you.
81	* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Quoted by Falco at the end of the movie.
82	-->'''Falco''': Gentlemen, it has been an honor to share the field of battle with you.
83	* JerkJock: Most of the pro ballers are portrayed this way, but ''especially'' Martel, who rags on the deaf guy... Because he's deaf.
84	* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Just when it looks like Martel is about to apologize to Falco for all of the {{Jerkass}}ery he and the original team did to him, it turns out to be a speech just to condescend and insult him even more.
85	* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: The tail end of Shane's one meeting with the head cheerleader is overlapped with some surprisingly fitting play-by-play from John Madden.
86	* LaserGuidedKarma: Right after Martel finishes ragging on the deaf player for being deaf, Danny walks in and, with a go-ahead from Shane, puts Martel in the ER.
87	* TheLastDance: For the replacements, the final game of the season against Dallas is this. With the player's strike coming to an end, this will be their last game in the pros. And they know it.
88	-> '''Summerall:''' We're looking at a different [Washington] team here in the second half.\
89	'''Madden:''' Absolutely. Washington is playing like there's no tomorrow... because there isn't.
90	* LightningBruiser: Just watch Danny run, and then flatten people without breaking stride.
91	* MadeOfIron: Danny again, as witness the big BarBrawl where he goes relatively unscathed for all the damage he does to the pro players.
92	* MaleGaze: Both in the movie, and in real life. In the movie, all the replacement cheerleaders are strippers. You do the math.
93	* MightyGlacier: Jamal and Andre, but not nearly as much as Jumbo, who weighs about as much as both of them put together, and has the muscles to match.
94	* MrFanservice: A majority of the replacement players but Keanu Reeves is in top form in this movie and may cause a bit of swooning for the female (and some male) viewers.
95	* MsFanservice: The cheerleaders, even more than usual, since most of them are strippers.
96	* MusicalEpisode: After the BarBrawl, the replacements are thrown in jail. They bond, and use the time until being bailed out to sing and dance together to 'I Will Survive'.
97	* NewRulesAsThePlotDemands: "Kick Ass on one" really should've resulted in most of the team getting thrown out of the game. [[RuleOfFunny But who cares?]]
98	* NotThisOneThatOne: "You see the yacht with the satellite dish?... Mine's the houseboat covered in pigeon shit next to it."
99	* OddFriendship: Bateman and Wilkinson. In a weird sort of way, the cop and the convict seem to understand each other from the get go more than most of the rest of the team do.
100	* OhCrap: The dawning realization on Martel's face as the Replacements surround him during halftime of the final game of the movie just ''drips'' this trope.
101	** Then there's the scene where Jumbo winds up with the ball...
102	-->'''Jumbo''': ''HOLY SHIT!''\
103	'''Jamal''': ''Let's haul ass round boy!!''
104	* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Falco choked and cost Ohio State the Sugar Bowl. Every person he meets brings it up within five seconds of meeting him.
105	-->'''Falco:''' Didn’t ''anybody'' have anything better to do that day?
106	* RabidCop: Danny Bateman. Being a football movie, the "rabid" part figures ''much'' more prominently than the "cop" part, but in the one scene where we do see him at his day job -- during a SWAT raid -- he's just as [[TheBerserker no-holds-barred]] as he is on the football field.
107	-->'''Coach [=McGinty=]''': I hope he doesn't kill someone.
108	* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The Replacements. The montage of the team introductions and their first time being together showcase how each of them have some issues, but are well-meaning deep down. And they get better.
109	* RealityIsUnrealistic: The movie is loosely (very loosely) based on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_NFL_season real-life 1987 NFL strike]]. The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Washington_Redskins_season Washington Redskins]] actually won three games without any of their regular players, and went on to Super Bowl XXII. They won, but the movie doesn't actually go that far.
110	** The Sentinels beating a Dallas team whose entire team has crossed the picket line is true. The 1987 Redskins Replacements actually beat a Dallas team that had more than 20 "real professional" players, including starting quarterback Danny White, defensive tackle Randy White and running back Tony Dorsett. Not only that,the 1987 strike was officially announced to be over before the game so the replacements knew this would be the final time they would play.
111	** The multi-fumble play was also based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roller_%28American_football%29 real life]]. In another shocker, Madden was COACHING one of the teams involved with said play at the time it happened.
112	* RedemptionQuest: This happens to Shane Falco. Falco had notoriously choked in the final game of his college career, and performed miserably in his little time as a pro, so this last chance at the game represents a chance for him to erase that image.
113	** All of the replacement players have this mindset, and Coach [=McGinty=] is in the same boat himself. He points this out in the briefing before the second game.
114	-->'''[=McGinty=]''': You've been given something every athlete dreams of: a second chance. And you're afraid of blowing it. ''We all are.''
115	* RetiredBadass: Shane and [=McGinty=], respectively.
116	* RousingSpeech: [=McGinty=] busts out one of these before the beginning of the second half of the final game of the movie;
117	--> '''[=McGinty=]''': Listen up! This time tomorrow... The strike will be officially over. Now Dallas has made a big mistake out there tonight-- They haven't been afraid of you. And they ''should be'', because you have a powerful weapon working for you. There is no ''tomorrow'' for you. And that makes you all '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Very.]]''' '''[[LetsGetDangerous Dangerous.]]''' '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis People!]]'''
118	* ScaryBlackMan: Earl Wilkinson, the player on loan from a prison. He's a good guy and a great football player, but his record and the fact that he's a PerpetualFrowner spook even one of the coaches.
119	-->'''Coach''': Well, there's no use standing here alone... outside of screaming distance... [''Walks very quickly towards the stadium with Wilkinson trailing behind him.'']
120	* ShownTheirWork: Most of the football scenes are very accurate and includes a recreation of "The Immaculate Deception" or "Holy Roller" play.
121	* ShutUpKiss: When he comes out to the field for the second half of the final game, Shane heads right over to Annabelle, listens to her give football advice for a few seconds, then makes good use of this trope.
122	-->'''John Madden''': He seems to be neckin' with that cheerleader! That's what he's doin'!\
123	'''Pat Summerall''': You know, players are not supposed to be fraternizing with the cheerleaders.\
124	'''John Madden''': Yeah, but what are they gonna do, Pat? Fire him?
125	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: In an interesting variation of this trope, Nigel, the team's kicker, is '[[FunetikAksent why-ree]]'.
126	* TakingAThirdOption: In the final game, Nigel, the team's kicker, reveals on the last play that he's going to lose his bar to some Mafia guys because he owes them money from betting at the track. They're forcing him to blow the kick to make up for it. Shane can either let Nigel blow the kick, and lose the game, or try and get a replacement (a replacement ''replacement''?) kicker before the timeout runs out. He decides on a third option in a dramatic snap-cut. He takes the ball and runs, flattening several opposing players blocking his path. It works, but the play is negated by a holding penalty.
127	--> '''[=McGinty=]''' [''to Falco'']: Someday you're going to have to tell me what just happened.
128	* ThemeMusicPowerUp: Ostensibly, Falco's return for the final game of the movie cues this, as the theme for pretty much [[strike: any]] every sports movie kicks up as he runs onto the field.
129	* ThirdPersonPerson: Clifford Franklin is giving a television interview. Clifford Franklin is this trope.
130	* TriumphantReprise: Clifford sings "I Will Survive" to cheer up the team while they languish in jail for bar fighting. They sing it again at the end when they win the game.
131	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: While the movie draws on a number real life inspirations, the Washington Redskins team that went 3-0 with replacement players during the 1987 NFL players strike served as the primary basis. That team even won a significant ''Monday Night Football'' game over the hated rival Dallas Cowboys who had most of their regular players back.
132	* VomitIndiscretionShot: Might wanna lay off the eggs, Jumbo.
133	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Martel isn't seen after the replacement players surround him and drag him elsewhere.
134	** A deleted scene shows that they shoved Martel into a storage room and locked him in there, with only a tiny television so he could watch the second half of the game.
135	* WhoNeedsOvertime:
136	** In a must-win game, the Sentinels score a late touchdown and opt to go for two and the win instead of kicking the extra point for the tie. Falco throws a bad pass that hits a defender in the hands, but it pops up into the air and reaches its target anyway.
137	** With a trip to the playoffs on the line, Nigel steps up to kick the tying field goal, but is under pressure to miss the kick because of the mob. Falco, the QB and holder, changes the play, takes the ball for himself and rushes into the endzone for the game-winning TD. Subverted when a holding call negates the TD. But since Nigel got injured on the play, they have no choice but to go for the touchdown again and this time they get it.
138	* TheWholeWorldIsWatching: The disastrous Sugar Bowl performance that effectively ended quarterback Shane Falco's pro career before it began is heavily implied to have been such an event, as numerous characters bring up the game upon meeting him. After one such conversation, he even quips, "Didn't anybody have anything better to do that day?"
139	* WorkingClassHero: The replacement players eventually win over the fans because they're regular guys like them, not "superstars who want eight million a year instead of seven."
140	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: The [[spoiler: first "game-winning" play, called back by a penalty.]]
141
142	----
143	'''That's why girls don't play the game.'''

Context Film / TheReplacements2000