Wuchak "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

jwysack I may be biased on this as I am a huge Buffalo Bills fan. However, the "gem" of this movie is not where most people would think.The gem in this movie is how Dan Heller won over his teammates with his leadership. If I were teaching how to manage people, this film would be required viewing by every single student in the class. At first, he thinks his chance is totally zero, but then one fluke incident - and he's basically the CEO of the on-field team.Instead of just going in and saying "I'm Dan Heller - I'm the guy and do what I say" - he takes the time to learn about his "second string" and why they are on the second string. You come to find out that just about every one of them would be stars on any other team, but for one reason or another - they ended up on the second string. His butt is pulled out of the fire by his wife who believes in him more than he does and his long time friend Jerry who gives him a huge lecture after they barely win the first playoff game.What struck me was after that talk with Jerry, he takes the time to really dig in and learn about his teammates - and he goes the extra mile to make them a lot better. He works out in a graveyard with the running back helping him to learn cutback moves. When he finds out his left tackle can't tackle the play book, he learns what is required of that position on every play and then tells the guy what to do on every play - just like he had it in high school and college. They work overtime ( night practices ) with new plays he draws up just for them that he knew would work with their talents. He reaches out to every player, even "Ernie Weathers" - the grizzly veteran with a chip on his shoulder so large, it takes the last play of the Super Bowl to remove it. Ernie doesn't get it until Dan tells him - "What if we do win and you had nothing to do with it? - how would you feel knowing you didn't do a thing to earn it". That finally gets Ernie thinking and he makes the winning move on the last play of the game to win it. He even wins over the coach who admits to him that he was never given a chance because the coach didn't want him because he didn't fit "his system".Even when he's pulled for someone who is supposedly better for the Super Bowl, its quite obvious to all of the players who made them better - and why. When things start to go wrong in the big game and even then he tries to explain it to the new guy, the new guy doesn't want to listen worth a crap. Thus, his teammates mutiny, knock the "3 time SB champ" out with a head butt, and they put Dan back in.And that my friends is the ultimate gem that many managers need to learn - you adjust for the players you have, not what you want your players to do. This is true for any workplace - and not just sports. I personally have been in great work situations and horrid ones, and the great ones follow what Dan does to the letter and the horrid ones follow the lead of "Tommy". I personally worked for a guy in one situation who had a cast of people who on paper weren't up to the challenge - but every day he told them they were - and although I can't give more details - I will tell you that 20,000+ jobs were saved because of his effort.You know when you're working for Dan, you know when you're working for Tommy, hopefully there are enough Dan's where you are who keep the Tommy's at bay or even keep them out of the company.So to the writer of this movie, you have a gem - if you want to make a lot more money for this film, license it to a "Dan" who can use it to make better managers.

amcfan62 I thought the movie wasn't too bad, but George's part was too small. His character was a jerk, but it is nice to see that he can play parts other than the studly nice guy! Gil Bellows was good, also. I haven't seen him too much since Ally.

DumontFan In the year 2000 (keep in mind, this is two years ago, not four), two men had the motivation to create the most miraculous piece of art on this side of the Mississippi.Thanks to Jere Cunningham and Tom Flynn, the world can now enjoy Second String, a delicious TV movie depicting a tale of a rag-tag gang of second stringers (thus the title) who are thrust into the position of starters due to an order of bad oysters.Because of the motivational direction of both the director Robert Lieberman and the Buffalo Bills' last minute QB, Dan "Give 'em hell" Heller (portrayed by Canadian actor, Gil Bellows) the oft Super Bowl snake-bitten Bills find themselves in the ultimate position.With an intriguing mix of internal and external conflict, a love story, comraderie that only the fine sport of football can bring, and an overall theory that the underdog can compete, Second String is an excellent movie worthy of viewing every possible moment that it appears on TNT.The only thing potentially bad about this production is the spelling of the Costume Designer's first name, Jenifur Jarvis.