Second String

One of the better "underdog" sports movies. Voigt is strong and believable. Bellows is good but as others noted, T Polo's character is shallow and forgettable, like her contrived performance (her lines are strained) G Eads is better here than on CSI and he gets big points for making the viewers dislike him. Even though its predictable, this is much better than "The Replacements" and other films with this premise. Worth watching? you bet.

The nice thing about this down-to-earth-hosed-over-qb-wins-the-big-one film is that your wife doesn't walk into the room just as a very foul word comes pouring out of the tv set. In fact, she'll enjoy it with you because there are no drugs, outrageous sex, or make-me-sick-and-shudder bone crunching neck snapping hits ala "Any Given Sunday" happening here. Jon Voight starts off as the despicable coach one can't help but detest (pompous control freak), but he then surprises you by confessing his shortcomings to the miracle game winning 4th string qb he cut from a previous team, realizing that loose cannon (improvising) qbs CAN win games, ala Johnny Unitas, Fran Tarkenton, and Doug Flutie. It is not deep, but definitely predictable, and is still a watchable, easy going, low-paid-guys-with-heart-DO-win, kind of dvd rental. This NOT Ben Hur! A good rainy day at home or drivein (good luck) film. Don't think so hard. Relax.

We just got "Second String" on video today, and I always the sucker for underdog movies, and after reading the synopsis on the box, decided to check it out. I was rather impressed by this small release (we only got two copies in). Now, I too, got the whole "Replacements-wannabe" vibe that several of the other reviewers may have had. However, I really got into this one a lot more. I thought it had a much better, and more importantly, believable story to it than the "Replacements" did. I thought Voight did a much better job than Hackman ever did as the old coach. Bellows was great as the QB, and since his 5-year stint on TV, its great to see he's making a comeback. I particularly liked when Bellows helped out his teammates with their physical and mental aspects of their game. While other movies have done this several times over, "Second String" doesn't have that corny feeling that is left over for the viewer to digest. Instead, it adds a little humor into it. I chuckled a few times as the players were counting up how much their running-back would pay up for the Superbowl party everytime he dropped the football. If you manage to find this treasure somewhere in the back of our store and are trying to avoid some of the more recent blockbusters that have been released, try giving it a chance. I'm sure you'll be quite impressed.

Well intended and interesting, especially for football fans. The Buffalo Bill's offensive starters are side lined by food poisoning. It is now up to the bench warmers to take the team to the play offs. A glory hound coach(Jon Voight)is not thrilled with his replacement quarterback(Gil Bellows)a former NFL star relegated to selling life insurance. Bellows not only has his former coach to contend with, but also an egotistical free agent quarterback(George Eades). Bellows takes the bench jockeys and meshes them into a contending team. Supporting cast:Richard T. Jones, Lamont Johnson,Teri Polo and Evan Dexter Parke. Very entertaining trick plays keeps this daydream between the lines. This is fun to watch.

Being a Bills fan, I originally found it annoying that they made a movie about the Bills and the losing of four superbowls. But once I began to watch, I felt really connected. It was actually nice to see the "Bills" win the superbowl, and I must say, that for a TV movie it was actually very well done. Gil Bellows as the QB, and Jon Voight as the old-school Coach did a very fine job. 8 out of 10