In "The Replacements," Keanu Reeves plays a retired NFL quarterback who is continually underestimated. Wary of success, he has to be coaxed back to the game. When he returns, he's mocked by some of the players+IBQ-at least until he throws one touchdown after another.

Reeves knows the feeling.

The Highest Paid Underdog Around Even before he played a space case in the "Bill and Ted" movies, he was the occasional object of ridicule. "I was picked to be the president of our senior class as a joke," he recalls, "but I was a great class president." Reeves is turning out to be a great movie star, too. Sure, there are some critics who think he projects nothing but a "serene blankness" on screen. But there's no denying the way he aced very different roles in "My Own Private Idaho," "Speed" and "The Matrix."

"Am I underestimated?" he ponders, as he sits in a suite at New York's Essex House Hotel sipping a tall glass of ice water. "I don't believe I've been underestimated by my peers. Sometimes by critics. I try not to read reviews but I'm such a sucker. It's the bane of the actor. I have to check them out, and, sometimes, it's tough to read what reviewers have to say."

In person, Reeves projects an earnestness that makes him seem younger than his 35 years. The man who was grunge before grunge was cool is dressed in a black Byblos suit, foam-green T-shirt and battered hiking boots. Even though he's on record as saying he detests interviews, he is never less than polite.

It's been a tough couple of years for Reeves. Last December, he and his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Syme, lost a child. The baby arrived stillborn on Christmas Eve. And the actor's sister Kim has been diagnosed with leukemia. (Reeves just returned from Italy where he and his sister enjoyed a vacation together.)

With an air of melancholy, he admits he often feels like dropping off the face of the earth. "I tend to retreat just to cope and figure things out," he offers quietly. "I like to sit on my couch and stare out the window."

Reeves hasn't been doing much sitting and staring lately. This year alone, he will have five films in release, including September's "The Watcher," in which he plays a serial killer; "Sweet November," a romantic drama co-starring Charlize Theron; "The Gift," the tale of a crime-solving psychic that co-stars Cate Blanchett and Hilary Swank; and "Hardball," a drama about a gambler who is persuaded to teach little-league baseball as a way of paying off his debts.

"I still get such incredible joy out of acting," says Reeves. "I love it more and more."

The Whole Ten Yards: "The Replacements" In "The Replacements," which co-stars Gene Hackman and Jon Favreau, Reeves gets a different kind of wake-up call. The actor plays Shane Falco, a quarterback who is working as a barnacle-scraping boat hand when he is given the opportunity to lead a replacement team to the playoffs. The story about underdogs getting a second chance was loosely inspired by the real pro-football strike of 1987. "I enjoyed the script," notes Reeves. "I thought it was funny and had a lot of heart. I really responded to Shane Falco. I responded to all of the characters, in fact. They all come from a situation of loss, and the comedy comes out of that reality. Sure, it is clich+AOk-d in parts. But I believed it. I believed the characters."

The Boys in the Band: Dogstar In between shooting movies, Reeves found time to record a CD called "Happy Ending" with his band Dogstar. To support the CD, the trio played a handful of live shows in New York, Boston and Japan, where Dogstar produces as much hysteria as 'N Sync or the Backstreet Boys. "In Japan, we had people singing along to our lyrics," marvels Reeves. "We get underwear and bras thrown onstage but never hotel keys. I think only Tom Jones gets keys."

Coming Up: "The Matrix" sequels This fall, Reeves begins training for back-to-back "Matrix" sequels, which will be shot simultaneously in Australia next March. Reeves is reportedly being paid $30 million plus 15 percent of the gross. "Are we going to talk about money, now?" he says gloomily when asked for a confirmation of his "Matrix" salary. "I don't even think about it. I don't connect the money with the movies. I work on a part. I hopefully realize the part as best as I can. I try and make good films. That's it."

As for the secret plots of the "Matrix" sequels, Reeves is also keeping mum. He promises that cast-mates Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss will be back and that the special effects "will raise the bar" for other sci-fi films.

Reeves certainly understands why "The Matrix" struck a chord with filmgoers. Though he admits he's only seen the mind-teaser once and hasn't watched the extras-laden DVD edition, he's a fan of the Wachowski Brothers, who wrote and directed the sci-fi spectacle.

"My character in the film is looking for answers, which is admirable," says Reeves. "The movie poses some good questions about our lives. Do you want to say in the rabbit hole or get out? Do we want to go to sleep or wake up?"