With four games left in the season, the Washington Sentinals put their playoff hopes in the hands of a quarterback haunted by his collegiate Waterloo (Reeves), a deaf tight end, a psychotic linebacker, a chain-smoking placekicker and a wide receiver who can’t catch. It’s up to no-guff optimist Jimmy McGinty (Hackman) to turn them into winners.

The Replacements vilifies greedy, pampered athletes as it makes heroes of scabs who suit up purely for the love of the game. McGinty encourages and empowers his players, who band together and defend each other (a cheerleader tells the stand-in QB, "You’re the first player I can remember who cares more about his teammates than he does about himself"). Nice gain. Then it fumbles.

While not as raunchy as similar sports comedies (Slap Shot, Major League), this film still should have been flagged with an R rating for unnecessarily rough language (incessant profanity includes more than 30 s-words). There’s also brief nudity, frequent alcohol use, an obscene gesture, sexual humor and gratuitous shots of strippers-turned-cheerleaders gyrating on the sidelines. Also, a Christian athlete projects an unflattering born-again stereotype.