Summary

It's late in the season; the playoffs are fast approaching; and the Washington Sentinels have just gone on strike. Scrambling for a solution, the Sentinels' owner Edward O'Neil (JACK WARDEN) hatches a plan to bring in legendary coach Jimmy McGinty (GENE HACKMAN) to recruit a team of replacement players in exactly one week. For fans and owners alike, the strike is a disaster. But for Shane Falco (KEANU REEVES) and a mismatched crew of outsiders, it is the second chance they've waited their whole lives for. Though Shane now works scraping boats in the harbor, McGinty sees in him a quality the pro guys lack - he plays not for the money, but for his genuine love of the game. Also recruited to play are butter-fingered sprinter Clifford Franklin (ORLANDO JONES); over-zealous L.A. cop Daniel Bateman (JON FAVREAU); Welsh star kicker and chain-smoker Nigel "the Leg" Gruff (RHYS IFANS); Earl Wilkinson (MICHAEL JACE), who is already a guest of the state of Maryland _ in their penitentiary; born-again Christian Walter Cochran (TROY WINBUSH); music industry bodyguards Andre and Jamal Jackson (MICHAEL "BEAR" TALIFERRO and FAIZON LOVE); young, talented and deaf player Brian Murphy (DAVID DENMAN); and Jumbo Fumiko (ACE YONAMINE), a huge Japanese sumo wrestler and the new team's secret weapon. These underdogs are not exactly pro football's finest. But their passionate love for the game and trust in each other will bring something back to football that it has missed for a long time - heart. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Bel-Air Entertainment, "The Replacements," a comedy starring two of America's most acclaimed and popular stars, Keanu Reeves ("The Matrix," "Speed") and two-time Academy Award winner Gene Hackman (Best Supporting Actor for "Unforgiven" and Best Actor for "The French Connection"). The film also stars Orlando Jones ("Liberty Heights," "Mad TV") as Clifford Franklin; BROOKE LANGTON ("Melrose Place") as head cheerleader Annabelle Farrell; Jon Favreau ("Swingers," TV's "Marciano") as Daniel Bateman; Rhys Ifans ("Notting Hill") as Nigel "The Leg" Gruff; BRETT CULLEN ("Apollo 13," "Courage Under Fire") as the Sentinels' regular quarterback Eddie Martel; and Jack Warden (whose remarkable career spans from "From Here to Eternity" to "Bulworth") as millionaire Sentinels owner Edward O'Neil. Rounding out the Sentinels team are Michael Jace (title role of television's "Michael Jordan: An American Hero") as Earl Wilkinson; Troy Winbush ("The Port Chicago Mutiny") as Walter Cochran; Michael "Bear" Taliferro ("Armageddon") and Faizon Love ("Friday") as Andre and Jamal Jackson; David Denman (TV's "The 60s") as Brian Murphy; and Ace Yonamine as Jumbo Fumiko. Other cast members of "The Replacements" include motion picture veteran GAILARD SARTAIN ("Fried Green Tomatoes," "Mississippi Burning"), ART LaFLEUR ("Escape From Alcatraz," "Field of Dreams"), and legendary football commentators JOHN MADDEN and PAT SUMMERALL as themselves, calling the games depicted in the film.