Replacements, The

Mr. Showbiz Larry Terenzi

An agreeably and unapologetically lightweight late-summer blockbuster.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

What The Replacements does have is energy.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

As obvious as they get, and it wears its message on its bloodied jersey.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

The story of the triumphant underdog is irresistible, even when every single plot point comes marching down Main Street.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Formulaic but surprisingly charming.

Variety Joe Leydon

A frankly formulaic but agreeably funny comedy about has-beens, wannabes and never-weres.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Although this movie doesn't have an ounce of depth, it's so thoroughly amiable and upbeat that you'd have to be in a fighting mood to find fault with it.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

So lazy and rote, it feels like a rerun the first time you watch it.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Slap-happy entertainment painted in broad strokes, two coats thick.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Any ESPN commercial at all leaves it in the dust when it comes to imaginative firepower.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Just like a low-budget football comedy, only with money.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Deutch never raises the film beyond its paint-by-numbers blueprint.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Harmless, mindless and shameless.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The incisive, close up photography by ''The Sixth Sense'''s Tak Fujimoto outclasses the story by yards.

TV Guide Steve Simels

A genial and instantly forgettable sports comedy.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Sometimes seems longer than a rainy Super Bowl.

USA Today Mike Clark

One of those movies that goes for a jarringly new emotion every 30 seconds or so while the story's foundation is collapsing.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Lame even by triumph-of-the-underdog sports-comedy standards.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

So vulgar and incoherent that even Hackman's gifts can't score a touchdown.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

You might want to sit out this season.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

This is the laziest kind of filmmaking.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A movie so lame that Keanu Reeves lends it gravity with his mere presence.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

A field goal, not a touchdown.

TNT RoughCut J. Rentilly

Mind-achingly mediocre in every regard.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Like two hours of outtakes in search of a studio audience.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

It's absolutely awful, and even Gene Hackman can't carry it across the goal line.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

This programmatic male-bonding comedy doesn't even borrow well.

Film.com Tom Keogh

Merely reconfigures the same predictable gross-out jokes, sentimental platitudes, and decorative sex that figure into half the screenplays in circulation.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A haphazard film about half as sophisticated as the average beer commercial.

Film.com Sean Means

A sports movie as distinguishable as one M&M in a bag, working off a formula as easy-to-read as an onsides kick.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A desperate, broad comedy.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

The worst movie of the new millennium.