| THE GAME PLAN (2007) : A.Fickman : 4/10 |
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After watching Dwayne Johnson stretch his talents in the deliriously bonkers wig-out that was Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, it's decidedly disconcerting - and disappointing - to see him step back so squarely and safely into the mainstream for sappy, uber-commercial sports-comedy The Game Plan. As if to demarcate the boundaries between the conventional and the experimental, he's billed as Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson here - although he's revealed that he'll stick to the nicknameless version on future projects. Hopefully that's an indication that the actor will concentrate on more worthwhile and interesting enterprises from now on - and avoid this kind of uninspired, unchallenging (if undeniably lucrative) fare. Taking a leaf from the playbooks of Arnold Schwarzenegger (Kindergarten Cop) and Vin Diesel (The Pacifier), Johnson now displays his sensitive side - and his aptitude for comedy - in a movie unashamedly aimed at family audiences. As Joe Kingman, he's the "freakishly large" superstar quarterback of the (fictional) 'Boston Rebels' American football team: an icon blessed with "crazy strength and ridiculous agility." Kingman's devotion to his sport is legendary and total ("beyond the field, nothing else matters") but, settling into his thirties, he starts to belatedly reassess his priorities. And it's at precisely this moment that 8-year-old Peyton (Madison Pettis) shows up, quite literally on his doorstep, claiming to be the daughter he never knew existed. Cue a slew of schmaltzy life-lessons as narcissistic Joe is forced to accept the responsibility of looking after a moppet - while satisfying the incessant demands of his grasping agent (Kyra Sedgwick), his boorish team-mates and his adoring public... The subtext of The Game Plan is a serious and topical one: the way professional sports (in the USA and, increasingly, elswhere) coddle and infantilise their participants, encouraging the kind of grotesque self-regard which the swaggeringly solipsistic Kingman embodies. But the director and writers have no interest in probing this situation's causes or consequences, instead opting for laborious slapstick and cornball sentimentality at every opportunity. Sedgwick has some fun channelling Glenn Close, and there's one amusing sequence when Joe's team-mates turn up to see him take part in a ballet-performance at Peyton's dance-school - their scoffing philistinism rapidly turning into teary-eyed appreciation. Otherwise, everyone seems content to simply go through the motions - each clunkily predictable development loudly accompanied by a score so intrusive and incessant that composer Nathan Wang narrowly deserves 'LVP' status. Neil Young 1-2.Mar.08 ----------------------------------------------- USA 110m (BBFC timing) director : Andy Fickman (She's the Man; Reefer Madness - the Movie Musical.) editor : Michael Jablow (She's the Man; Beauty Shop; New York Minute, etc) seen 27.Feb.08 Gateshead (Odeon MetroCentre : press show)
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