The Game Plan

The Game Plan
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Rated: PG
Cast: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Roselyn Sanchez
Director: Andy Fickman
WorkNameSort: Game Plan, The
Our Rating: 2.00
Pro wrestling is more or less football plus ballet plus drama. In The Game Plan, former WWE wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson gets to do all three, and it’s no surprising that he pulls off this equation with charm and grace, almost to the movie’s detriment – his instant likability makes us hard to believe he’s really the arrogant, self-obsessed, spoiled superstar athlete he’s supposed to play. In true Disney fashion, Johnson’s Joe Kingman is gradually transformed into a sterling father by his illegitimate 7-year-old daughter (Madison Pettis), who appears at his doorstep demanding to crash at his pad for the next month. This is your ordinary funny-to-treacly plot arc – funny if you’re 10 or younger, treacly if you’re older. Pettis has the cute mannerisms down pat, but no amount of gap-toothed smiles can make up for the ridiculous crap the screenwriters fed her. She quotes classical music and Nobel Peace Prize winners one minute and acts like a bratty kid the next, only reminding us of her age when the story calls for it. The film also reinforces the negative stereotypes of football players as mindless jocks, with one supporting lughead who speaks only in monosyllabic grunts.

This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2007.