Second String (2002)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

"Second String" is a TNT production released in 2002. Some criticize it as a low-budget variation of 2000's "The Replacements." The story revolves around the Buffalo Bills who hire a star college player who never made it in the pros to help in practice. Dan Heller (Gil Bellows) takes the job because he needs the money and is pressured by his wife (Tori Polo). When the starting line-up of the offense suffers food poisoning, Dan and the other second stringers have to step up and prove themselves.Since this is a TV production, you can't expect the spit and polish of films like 1999's "Varsity Blues." Speaking of which, Jon Voight played the coach in that one too. He's essentially the same character in "Second String," except he's coaching for the NFL and not a high school team, not to mention he's a few notches less malevolent. In any event, Voight more than has the gravitas to pull off the stubborn, pushy coach.Bellows is great as the every-day guy protagonist and Polo shines as his wife. The rest of the cast is good and, despite the low budget, you can tell thought and effort was put into the story and filmmaking, but because of its limitations it's only moderately amusing and fails to achieve the greatness of "Varsity Blues." I was a little let down with the women considering the resources at their disposal; Polo, for instance, is underutilized.Where this movie soars is the underlying message. Heller is thrust into a bound-to-lose situation and must rise to the challenge. As the quarterback, he has to take the reins of leadership and corral the troops, even if they don't want to be corralled or don't think they can win. Heller's humble, but forceful approach to leadership is contrasted with a hireling star quarterback that the coach signs-up for the playoffs, Tommy Baker (George Eads), who thinks he can unite the team and lead them to victory on bluster and bloviating alone.The film runs 100 minutes and was shot in Toronto, Hamilton and Woodbridge, Ontario.GRADE: B

I don't normally write reviews, but this "film" was special. I couldn't turn it off. I don't believe I've ever seen a worse movie, but there I sat, watching. It was like a horrible car wreck with blood flowing all over the highway. It was disgusting, but I couldn't turn away. Where do I start? The movie seems to think it's a sports thriller, but it's so utterly ridiculous, it can only be a comedy, but it's not funny, not even in a dumb/silly way. It's like watching your cousins try to act out a skit on family get-togethers. It's painful to watch, but at least it's only for a minute or two. Second String went on for over an hour. Whoever was involved with making this movie should not work again. The writing, directing, acting, and everything was just terrible. The problem is I can't describe how bad it was; you just had to see it. And I'm sure this will NEVER be shown again, so unless you saw it, you're out of luck. I mean it was almost worth seeing just for the fact that it gave me some appreciation for every other "bad" film I've seen over my lifetime. And for every film I see in the future that I can't stand, I will think to myself, well, at least it wasn't bad as the Second String.

For a made for TV movie I thought that it was a great popcorn movie - don't expect anything to be very accurate and don't expect any award winners in this bunch but I do recommend this for a TV type version somewhat like "The Replacements". Look for cameos from real NFL players & officials.

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