The Replacements (2000)

A friendly sports comedy with a romantic twist, it's like a remake of the awful Durham Buffaloes (1988), but with baseball replaced by football.

They say that ‘The Replacements’ was inspired by the NFL strike that occurred in 1987, and while I won't elaborate, I recall a strike that occurred during the 1998-1999 NBA season and another strike that occurred during the 2011-2012 season.

Interestingly, in the film, the scabs are the good guys and the striking ‘human rights workers’ are the bad guys, although to be fair, they are sports stars and not poor workers.

This is similar to the air traffic controllers' strike in 2010, when almost everyone looked down on them because they knew they were privileged people who wanted more money and benefits.

In fact, The Replacements' approach quickly became unbelievable. Translated to Spain, it's as if the Barça players refused to play and the management went in search of youngsters without a team who at one point in their lives hit the ball with their feet, but are now policemen, waiters, taxi drivers or bodyguards.

But more importantly, it turns out that the star of the team and best player in the league, Messi, was outplayed by a fishmonger, and the truth is that I really have no idea what Falco (Keanu Reeves) does.

Anyway, Messi looks like a blanket and this team of fans beat Real Madrid and more.

An overblown fable that puts the NFL pros in a very bad light.

That said, the film is fun, has the thrill of sports and features excellent performances from a group of cheerleaders.