Second String (2002)

Second String features cameos by soem of sports' most familiar faces, including Doug Flutie, Mike Ditka and Chris Berman.

I'll probably sell mine

First off, I have to say this is not a horrible film but there are many other football films out there that are waaaaay better. One I can easily name is Friday Night Lights. That one is an underrated classic. Second String, on the other hand, has so many sports cliches (the kicker with no confidence getting it back on Super Bowl, the tired run down player who wants to show he can win, the talented quarterback nobody gave a chance, the arrogant quarterback who doesn't care about anyone, the ruthless coach who doesn't believe in his player until the very last moment, the..okay I think you all get the point), that it practically ruins the whole flow of the film. Gil Bellows is fine but has no screen charisma. I think it would have been better for him to be cast as a coach and have Eads as the quarterback struggling to get his self-esteem back. Jon Voight looks like he's played one too many control freak coaches (Varsity Blues anyone?) and looks like he doesn't want to be in the film half the time. Anyway, unless you're a fan of one of the actors in the film (I love Eads that's why I got it) this film may not last long in your DVD collection. February 7, 2008

John Voight must have needed the paycheck. His Tom Landry impersonation is worse than Geno Hackman's 'Replacements', And Gil....

Bellows is supposed to be Doug Flutie?
That's who this movie was originally
supposed to be about. I hear Flutie-
ball got a paycheck on this one too.
They stole the money. Since it's sort
of about Douglas Richard Flutie, I'll
give it a merciful ** out of five
since amazon.com's rating scale is
lamost as liberal as Hitlery Clinton! May 15, 2006

corny, good tv movie

Second String was shown on TNT first.

real basic feel good movie.
Dan Heller is a 1st round 1990 QB Bust, who was drafted i think by the Eagles, who gave up 2 first rounders to get him, which turned out to be Junior Seau and Emmitt Smith.

John Viot is the head coach of the Buffalo Bills now, and has just made the playoffs with Doug Flutie at the helm. After they beat the Giants and make the playoffs, Viot wants to pick up a QB with a big arm to get the team ready for the playoffs.

because they can only sign one player a week during the playoffs, they get Heller, a not so good Insurance broker.

He signs with the Bills even though they doesn't want to, and the whole time, his wife Teri Pollo (Meet the Parents), is supportive and behind him.

and just by coincidence, the entire Buffalo Bills staring offense gets a stomach virus after eating oysters to celebrate making the playoffs.

so in steps Heller and the second string offense to lead Buffalo into the Super Bowl.

they get lucky against San Diego on a punt return for a TD, then go out and beat Miami for the title game to play Minnesota for the Super Bowl. and you can guess what happens at the end...

the movie is EXTREMELY corny, but also funny. its got some good stuff, like Heller's locker room speech after the title game, and some pretty neat football footage including real football clips from the Bills.

what is also cool is that for the shots at Reich Stadium, home of the Bills, they shot that stuff indoors in a smaller football field that is made to look like the real Bills stadium, like the scaled down Alamo in Disney's Davy Crockett.

overall, Second String is a good movie, but it is nowhere near The Replacements, Any Given Sunday, Remember the Titans, or Necessary Roughness. Like someone said, honestly, Little Giants was better than Second String. February 9, 2005

Go Figure...

The title of this movie perfectly describes the acting. Even The Little Giants had better actors than this, and those kids were only like 4 or 5 years old. Ok, so they were probably 12...that's not the point. Second String tries to use those inspiring lines that all football movies have (you know, the ones meant to give you goose bumps), but they don't succeed at all. In fact, they fail with flying colors. When I first saw this movie, I decided that I'd rather be the sunblock boy at a senior citizen's nude beach than watch it again. Needless to say, I haven't seen it since. October 21, 2004

this movie was great.

I originally caught this movie on TNT in the middle of the night. What a sleeper. I was so happy when it came out on DVD. If you liked The Replacements or Any Given Sunday, you will love this movie. The ending is very predictable, but it is fun to watch. November 24, 2003

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