The Game Plan ---- The Rock (I mean Dwayne Johnson) Plays some Life Football
Written: May 04 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The Rock, Madison Pettis, nice family film
Cons: a little predictable, might be too "Disney" for some
The Bottom Line: A nice family film from Disney, the blend of football and an interesting story makes this one worth watching.
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| three_ster's Full Review: The Game Plan |
Finding success in 2006's Gridiron Gang Dwayne Johnson returned for another football movie in the Disney release The Game Plan. Johnson plays Joe Kingman, the rough quarterback of the Boston Rebels, who has gained a lot of notoriety as being an outstanding football player. He seems to have the game in the palm of his hands, and he doesn't hesitate to make everyone around him know just how good he is. His main problem early on though, is that seem to realize that he has taken his teammates for granted, and has been content to live the single life, bringing models into his bachelor pad and throwing parties any chance he can get. He even goes as far as making fun of a player that goes home to his wife and kids rather than go out and party with the boys. All of that is about to change though as a new chapter of his life begins.
Starting out his week in the normal fashion, he is notified that a "young girl" is there to see him, and of course he tells the doorman to send her up. When she gets there though, it comes as a great surprise that he new guest is only 8 years old. Confused, he questions her, only to find out that this is his daughter from a woman he was married to a long time ago. Now Joe must face the prospect of being a father to his daughter Peyton during the last few weeks of the football season, and begrudgingly welcomes her into his life. He is not up to the task at first, and the movie begins to show just how drastically he is going to have to change his outlook if he is going to prove to be a good father. It may sound like your typical Disney fare, but it does give the original view of a star football player dealing with a new daughter in a unique way.
Dwayne Johnson has been slowly making his way in to the mainstream of films, and along the way has had a number of films that just didn't do well with critics or the box office. With The Game Plan though, he has hit on gold by simply playing the role he was born to play; an athlete that has to deal with the dramas of real life. The former wrestler does great as the brooding player, and the good guy that he is deep down shines out even when he doesn't want it to. He was the perfect choice for this role, and plays well opposite the young Madison Pettis as his daughter. Madison herself steals most of the scenes they are involved with simply by using her big brown eyes to up the "cuteness quotient." Also in the cast is Kyra Sedgwick as Joe's assistant, Roselyn Sanchez as Peyton's ballerina teacher, and Morris Chestnust as another player on the football team.
It would be easy to say that this is one of those films that can be predicted from the very beginning, but it also isn't the type of movie where you want to ruin it for yourself like that. We watch it because of the inherent humor involved in a little girl living with a football player, and because it certainly will give us that feel-good ending that many of us turn to the cinema to enjoy. If you can set aside the predictability of the script, you will have much more fun enjoying the humor as well as the heartfelt plot within the story. All of the cast does well, with the exception of one of the football players that ends up being the target of too many jokes (and becomes un-funny at times), and the story keeps a good pace that doesn't seem to lag. Sure it doesn't really bring anything new that we haven't seen before, but The Rock, I mean Dwayne Johnson, is interesting enough to keep this one afloat.
Recommended:
Yes
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