The Game Plan

Director: Andy Fickman
Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Madison Pettis, Kyra Sedgwick, Roselyn Sanchez, Paige Turco
Running Time: 110 min.
Rating: PG

*** (out of ****)

It is what it is, and for what it is, it works. That's my reasoning for mildly recommending Disney's The Game Plan starring The Rock, excuse me, Dwayne Johnson. Maybe I'm getting soft, but even I have to admit it's a movie kids will likely love and their parents will find reasonably amusing and entertaining. It's a good way to pass the time but if you happened to miss it, it wouldn't be the end of the world. It's a sappy paint-by-the numbers Disney movie that, to its credit, executes its premise well enough to earn a look.

This is the first film I've actually ever seen starring Johnson, and I figured that in the best case scenario maybe he'd be able to take a mediocre movie and make it at least watchable just on the strength of his natural charisma. I was wrong. He does one better and takes a movie that has little going for it and makes it pretty good. He gives a fantastic comic performance and the best news to come out of this film is the prospect that with stronger material he could really turn into something special as an actor in the future. In a way I kind of felt sorry for him having to "pay his dues" here this but it is good role for him and a showcase for his strengths as a performer.

At times I was blown away by how good his comic timing was and what he brought to what could have been a middling effort. He also gets a little help from an adorable and unannoyingly precocious child actress who also gives it everything she has. Despite its obvious shortcomings, the film has its heart in the right place and is quality family entertainment, an increasingly rare phenomenon in Hollywood lately. It's far from perfect and occasionally very stupid, but mostly on the strength of the lead performances it reaches the goal line in achieving everything it sets out to do.

Johnson is Joe "The King" Kingman, the cocky, arrogant star quarterback of the Boston Rebels who's in for the surprise of his life when little eight-year-old Peyton (Madison Pettis) shows up at the doorstep of his palatial bachelor pad, suitcase and all. She announces that she's the daughter his ex-wife conveniently neglected to tell him about after they divorced. At this point I was watching very carefully to see if the movie would be so dumb as to not address the fact that a child that age is traveling alone without a guardian and showed up unattended in a big city apartment complex. Most films wouldn't. This one does, however, as Joe is as flabbergasted as we are and we get a reasonable explanation for the whole situation later on.

Joe isn't exactly "Mr. Mom" and much to the distaste of his overbearing agent (a grating Kyra Sedgwick) his time is now spent unwittingly wearing bedazzled clothes and chauffeuring Peyton to ballet class. The dance teacher (Rosalyn Sanchez) demands full parental involvement in the class and isn't the slightest bit impressed by Joe's fame and accomplishments. Obviously, she's being set up as a love interest for Joe, but I was surprised at the restraint the writers showed in handling it. Actually, it really isn't handled at all, which was a welcome relief. Although I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the fact this is supposed to be a PG rated family movie.

We know exactly where all of this is going and where it'll end up yet somehow I found myself entertained throughout the slightly overlong picture and most of why is the chemistry between Johnson and Pettis. They play off each other really well and are believable as father and daughter. It's fun watching Johnson's reactions to her behavior as he tries to find a way to contain himself and deal with it in a reasonable manner. She isn't a brat, just a regular hyperactive kid, but this guy is still in way over his head.

I also like how director Andy Fickman lets Johnson slide in some personality traits and mannerisms from his wrestling character, like his Elvis obsession and tendency to refer to himself in the third person. It fits perfectly and the opening sequence where we're introduced to the character is great, in no small part due to the fact he has one of the coolest apartments in existence. As a wrestler The Rock was known as a guy who could flip from "good" to bad" at the drop of a hat. I never would've thought that skill would come in handy for him as an actor, but it does here. How Johnson conveys his character's transformation throughout the film is subtly and skillfully done and as much as I tried to fight it, by the end, I really ended up caring about this father-daughter relationship.

The film does hit a couple of sour notes, namely musical ones. Nathan Wang's score is annoying, unnecessarily adding an exclamation point to each scene and highlighting every little emotion. It actually calls attention to itself, something a film score should never do under any circumstances. Kyra Sedgwick's agent is also unbearable, but most of the blame can be put on Fickman for letting her indulge that broadly. I know it's a Disney film and the villains are supposed to be cartoonish, but it didn't seem to fit and her performance seemed excessive even for this type of film. At 110 minutes it could have used a little bit of a trim job, but I can't say it dragged or I was ever bored. The charm of the two leads carried it through.

To the surprise of many, this film actually cleaned up at the box office and I can see why. This is one of those rare cases where audiences were right and the critics struck out, overanalyzing things. It's just inoffensive fun and a welcome throwback to an era when Disney used to release quality live action films that were marketed as family affairs. Yes, the script is corny and simplistic but it's executed well onscreen and serves the audience it's aimed for.

You couldn't convince me The Game Plan is any less intelligent than other lightweight fare from 2007 like Hairspray or the fluffy Waitress, and I'd go out on a limb and say this is actually smarter than the latter, which dished out life lessons with a helping of sugar so sweet it could put a diabetic in a coma. That took an adult problem and approached it with a five-year-old mentality, while at least this is supposed to be simplistic and doesn't put on false pretences of being highly intellectual. It knows what it's trying to do and does it. What more could you ask for?

I'm not even a part of the audience this movie is aimed for and enjoyed myself, so I can only imagine how much kids would love it. They'll also love Johnson, who takes low-level material and knocks it out of the park. It's scary to think what he's capable of delivering if ever handed material of genuine substance. I have a feeling it won't be too long before we find out.