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Shelf Beauties |
The Game Plan I can smell what The Rock is
cooking, and Gordon Ramsay is shutting down that kitchen! It’s rancid! The Rock stars as Joe
Kingman – the selfish star quarterback of the Boston Rebels
football team (The
NFL was smart enough not to be associated with this dog. Good job, NFL!). He has been in the league
for 10 years,
become a huge superstar, and rich beyond anyone’s dreams, but
The King, as he
is called, has never won the championship and doesn’t have
anyone to share his
success with. Now,
as the team is
preparing for another playoff run, little 9-year old Peyton (Madison
Pettis)
shows up on Kingman’s door and declares her to be his long
lost, and never
known, daughter. With
a mother thousands
of miles away in Will Joe and Peyton
emotionally become the father and daughter they are in name only? How come she showed up now? The Game Plan is a typical
Disney movie (in good and bad ways) targeted to 7-year old children and
their
families – two groups without high expectations or demands. If having an excuse to get
out of the house
for a few hours is your primary desired trait in a movie, The Game Plan
is for
you, and you don't need to apologize for it or feel guilty. You’ll
get some giggles and won’t
have to explain much to your kids, but it’s completely
predictable and not very
imaginative. Director Andy Fickman and
writers Nichole Miller and Kathryn Price deliver a sickly saccharine
sweet kid
with a sass mouth and some attitude, a cute dog who wears silly outfits
and
intermittent slapstick all centered around the cliché big
tough guy who needs
to soften up and learn to like it.
Ho-hum. Worst of all, it feels like
every character has had their IQ lowered by 10
- 20 points. People
act
cartoonishly idiotic, and most of the plot doesn’t pass the
common sense
test. Can you
imagine the reaction if a
9-year old kid showed up on the doorstep of Peyton Manning or Brett
Favre? Do you
really think either guy would just
say, “C’mon in, my lovely daughter, which bedroom
do you want?” I
am all for suspending disbelief at a movie,
but this is pushing it. 1 ½ Waffles (Out of 4) The Game Plan is rated PG for mild thematic elements.
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