who stood in as football players. Bo Schembechler and Lynn Swann make cameo appearance playing themselves as commentators in the film. Reception Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 43% of 21 reviewers gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.1/10. James Berardinelli said, "prepare to be inundated by a load of feeble, unimaginative material that's almost impossible to take seriously." Norman Chad of The Washington Post referred to the film as "one big cliche". Roger Ebert rated the film three stars out of four, putting particular emphasis on the amount of time spent on the relative ease in passing an NCAA drug test, saying "[a]nd the movie seems expert on how a lineman could pump himself full of steroids and still pass the NCAA drug tests." Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it "routine" but praised the performance of Andrew Bryniarski, saying, "[w]hen high on steroids, he turns into a competition-crazed monster, but the film manages to make him likable anyhow." Reviewing it on video, Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B− and wrote that it is better than its reputation. Removed scene The film originally included a scene in which Kane lies down in the middle of a road on the lane divider, cars barely missing him as they move at highway speeds. Reading aloud from a Sports Illustrated college football preview issue with him on the front cover, he comically remarks, "They're talking about how good I am under pressure." Several team members who are at first trying to stop Kane decide that it is a test of their bravery and team unity and join him. Influenced by the scene, in October 1993, teenagers imitated it in two separate real-life incidents, resulting in one death and two injuries. This resulted in the scene being removed from the film after its release. A brief clip of the scene in question showing team members lying in the street had already been aired repeatedly in the television commercials for the film and therefore captured on VCRs. Later versions of the trailer had the clip removed. The only known home video releases with this scene intact are the Hong Kong laserdisc published by Taishan International and the Australian DVD release. The Hong Kong release is three minutes longer than the theatrical cut and clocks in at a 115-minute run time. References External links 1993 films 1993