Reeves shallow in stereotypical `Replacements’

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In theaters

THE REPLACEMENTS. 114 minutes, PG-13, directed by Howard Deutch, written by Vince McKewin.

Howard Deutch’s “The Replacements” features a bunch of regular guys coming together to play pro football during a pro football strike. It features Keanu Reeves in the lead, blasts the disco anthem “I Will Survive” not once but twice, and has absolutely no interest in pressing against the boundaries of the genre.

The film exists for one reason and one reason only: There’s money in football and the film’s producers want to exploit it.

Ripping off a wealth of other movies, particularly “Hoosiers,” “North Dallas Forty,” “The Longest Yard” and especially the entire “Major League” series, “The Replacements” certainly doesn’t pretend to throw deep, but did it have to be this shallow?

Apparently so.

In the film, Reeves is Shane Falco, a ruined college quarterback who blew his big chance at fame and fortune when his team suffered a huge loss at the Sugar Bowl of 1996. Now making his living cleaning boats, Shane is recruited by coach Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman, delivering the same performance he gave in “Hoosiers”) to head a team composed completely of scabs.

Since much of the film’s comedy is supposed to come from its casting, audiences are treated to a raucous crew of stereotypes.

On board are a Japanese sumo wrestler named Jumbo (Ace Yonamine); a Welsh placekicker (Rhys Ifans) who chain-smokes during the game; a deaf lineman (David Denman) who, naturally, will “never be called offsides on an audible”; a Los Angeles cop (John Favreau) who literally chews up the scenery; a convict on leave from prison (Michael Jace); a born-again Christian (Troy Winbush); and a couple of enormous, rapping bodyguards (Michael Taliferro and Faizon Love) who leave the music industry for the chance to play pro ball.

Since all of this is inspired by the 1987 NFL players strike, it’s curious that the NFL is never mentioned. That’s probably due to some legality, but it’s an omission that nevertheless harms a film that’s trying — at least on one level — to evoke a sense of history and nostalgia.

Hackman does give “The Replacements” weight and there are a few genuine moments of comedy, but Reeves is the focus and he’s once again brain dead, an expressionless, soulless actor who may be able to throw a ball, but who can’t deliver a line to save his padded butt.

Grade: D

BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER. 85 minutes, R, directed by Jamie Babbit, written by Wayne Peterson. Starts Friday, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

Unfortunately, there’s little to siss-boom-bah about in Jamie Babbit’s satire “But I’m a Cheerleader,” a film about a lesbian high school cheerleader (Natasha Lyonne) who’s shipped off for deprogramming at True Directions, a fictitious sex-role clinic that specializes in reparative therapy.

In spite of its promising premise — which is especially timely given the ongoing controversy swirling about Dr. Laura Schlesinger and her remarks about homosexuality being a curable disease — the film mostly falls flat on its pompoms.

It does feature good performances from Lyonne, Clea DuVall and fun, campy turns from Cathy Moriarty and Mink Stole, but it too often feels like a 30-minute sitcom stretching to fill an 85-minute running time. There are plenty of sight gags — the gay and straight stereotypes Babbit parades throughout — but precious little wit in Wayne Peterson’s amateurish script.

It’s clear from the start that Babbit and Peterson want their movie to evoke all the delirious charm of a John Waters film, but it never does. Waters’ work has depth; Babbit’s film only ever feels like a desperate copy.

Grade: C-

On video

ERIN BROCKOVICH. 126 minutes, R, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Susannah Grant.

In Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brockovich,” Julia Roberts enjoys the role of her life. She’s Erin Brockovich, a smart, uneducated, pretty tough woman who takes on corporate America in a padded bra, six-inch stiletto heels and hair that’s so outlandishly big, it rivals the Sydney Opera House in size and in structure.

Perfect casting? You bet. Who better than Roberts to play a twice-divorced former beauty queen from Wichita, Kan., whose cheap wardrobe of skimpy skirts and bosom-revealing shirts look as if they were shrink-wrapped to her body?

Nobody’s better. In fact, it seems as if Roberts has been working her entire career toward this film. She’s done her undercover training in “The Pelican Brief,” she’s paid her dues while getting the scoop in “I Love Trouble” and “Conspiracy Theory,” and she’s even worn her share of Frederick’s of Hollywood flair in “Pretty Woman.”

Now, all of those elements boil together in the foulmouthed form of “Brockovich,” a true story about one woman’s crusade to find herself and her place in this world while fighting a $28 billion conglomerate.

The film opens with Erin desperately seeking a job so she can feed her three children, cuts to her being broadsided in an auto accident, and then moves to reveal its true intent: Erin lands a job as a file clerk with Ed Masry (Albert Finney in a great performance), the worn-out yet respectable lawyer who failed to win her auto accident claim.

At Ed’s office, Erin stumbles upon the case to end all cases: For years, Pacific Gas and Electric knowingly dumped a deadly carcinogen into the groundwater of Hinkley, Calif. People got sick, some died. What to do? The film answers by sending in Erin’s breasts to the rescue.

Like it or not, that’s how this film treats women; in scene after scene, Erin’s undercover work is clearly aided when she uncovers her cleavage. But to Soderbergh’s credit, his film only treats Erin as the world treats beautiful women — as sex objects whose respect must be earned.

Which brings us back to Julia Roberts — she’s so good in “Brockovich,” so convincing and smart and consistently worth watching, she earns our respect, not to mention a $20 million paycheck for her trouble.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Monday and Thursday in the NEWS, and Tuesday and Thursday on NEWS CENTER at 5:30 and NEWS CENTER at 11.

THE VIDEO CORNER

Renting a video? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Erin Brockovich — B+ The Cider House Rules — A- Here on Earth — D+ Reindeer Games — C+ Princess Mononoke — A Romeo Must Die — C- Whatever It Takes — B The Beach — D+ Drowning Mona — C- Magnolia — A- Angela’s Ashes — B- The Ninth Gate — C+ Ride with the Devil — C- What Planet Are You From? — D The Whole Nine Yards — B+ All About My Mother — A Down to You — D The Hurricane — A- My Dog Skip — B+ Scream 3 — B- Hanging Up — F The Talented Mr. Ripley — A Scream 3 — B- Anna and the King — A- Sweet and Lowdown — A- Topsy-Turvy — A Bicentennial Man — D+ Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo — C- The Emperor and the Assassin — B- The Green Mile — A Light it Up — C+ Play it to the Bone — D+ The Third Miracle — D Girl, Interrupted — B Miss Julie — C Next Friday — B-