The Game Plan (7/10)
by Tony Medley
Fathers are a forgotten
species in Hollywood these days. In some movies, like Under The
Tuscan Sun (2003), men aren’t even required in order to make
a baby. So that’s why this film, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and
7-year-old Madison Pettis, is such a breath of fresh air.
Joe Kingman (The Rock) is a
Joe Namath-type NFL quarterback who lives a high life, driving a
gull-winged Mercedes, dating supermodels, and occupying a lavishly
furnished bachelor pad of just about every man’s fantasy. This is all
thrown into jeopardy by a knock on his door by Peyton Kelly (Pettis),
who announces that she is his daughter from a long-dissolved marriage,
of whom he had been unaware.
While The Rock might not be
Cary Grant or Hugh Grant when it comes to light comedy, he does a pretty
good job of carrying it off here, even without raising his one eyebrow
inquiringly, at which he is so good. He is helped immeasurably by
Pettis, who is a cute, charming star in the making.
Adding immeasurably to the
fun is Kyra Sedgwick, who plays Joe’s avaricious agent, Stella. One of
my main criticisms of the film is that Stella doesn’t get enough screen
time. She adds a bite to the humor, and the film could have used a lot
more of her.
Sports movies have improved
so much because of sports coordinator Mark Ellis, who has been
responsible for some of the best athletic scenes ever filmed recently,
including Miracle and Invincible. So, too, here he
recruited real athletes to play football, including Jamal Duff, a former
NFL lineman for the New York Giants, who plays Monroe, Morris Chestnut,
who played high school football, who plays Joe’s best friend, wide
receiver Sanders, and Brian White, son of Boston Celtics’ JoJo, who
played for the NFL New England Patriots and who plays Joe’s running
back, Webber.
Ellis put them all through
a boot camp and trained them as a team, so that the football scenes
would be realistic, and they are. I’m the first one to point out when
athletic scenes portrayed on the screen are idiotic, which they
generally are. Not when Ellis is involved. What is even better is that
these people aren’t just chosen for their athletic abilities. They can
act, too.
Pettis is a budding
ballerina, and her teacher is Monique, played by Roselyn Sanchez, who is
a real dancer, so doesn’t use a dance double.
Also in the film are people
sports fans might recognize, broadcasters Boomer Esiason, Marv Albert,
Jim Gray, Steve Levy and Stuart Scott, among others. Los Angeles viewers
even get to see what acerbic Los Angeles Times sportswriter T. J. Simers
looks like.
Even though this film is
too long and strains credulity to the breaking point sometimes, it is a
very good light entertainment without the low values seen in many
Hollywood films.
September 27, 2007
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