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The Game Plan
Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson,
Madison Pettis, Kyra Sedgwick
Directed by: Andy Fickman
Produced
by:
Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray
Written
by: Audrey Wells (screenplay & story), Kathryn Price & Nichole Millard
(story)
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures |
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It is rather amazing that the screenwriters of The
Game Plan, a movie so hopelessly derivative that even the
youngest of viewers will greet it with indifference, didn’t fall
asleep out of sheer boredom when writing the script. Watching
the film, I never forgot the fact that it was the calculated
product of a greedy film-studio, making it nearly impossible to
immerse myself in. Of course, this difficulty didn’t exactly
come as a surprise: I didn’t like the picture when it was called The
Pacifier, Are
We There Yet?, Daddy
Day Care, or Big
Daddy, either. What will it take for clichéd, worthless
works like The
Game Plan to stop
ravaging American multiplexes? The Movie Industry has showcased
its ability to successfully put out entertaining, challenging
family films numerous times in the past; there simply isn’t any
reason for releases like this one to exist. The
Game Plan may not
be incredibly offensive content-wise but, artistically, it
proves to be an assault on the moviegoer’s senses.
It seems only fitting that the film was directed by
Hollywood Hack Andy Fickman, who made a name for himself with
the grotesque Amanda Bynes-vehicle She’s
the Man. Under Fickman’s guidance, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
plays Joe Kingman, a professional quarterback for the Boston
Rebels (apparently, Disney was too frugal to acquire the rights
to place him on a real NFL team). Kingman is a well-liked and
sociable player, thoroughly enjoying living a single life and
doing well in his career… that is, until a little girl named
Peyton (Madison Pettis) appears at his apartment doorstep,
claiming to be his daughter. Peyton’s suggestion turns out to be
true, despite her newfound long-lost dad’s disbelief. Peyton
declares that her mother has left on a trip to Africa and that
she will need to stay with her father for a month. Kingman,
predictably, has a hard time adjusting to fulfill the various
obstacles and requirements of parenthood.
The Game Plan’s
story is obviously conventional, but this aspect of the film
isn’t necessarily what makes it such a rotten experience at The
Movies. The real problem here is that screenwriters Nichole
Millard and Kathryn Price don’t provide the unoriginal material
anything even moderately fresh to latch onto. The duo noticeably
wrote the easiest, most generic script that they could possibly
muster. Lots of films are driven by conventional stories, but
many are able to overcome their tired cores and distinguish
themselves by being inventive with their characters, visuals,
dialogue, et cetera. Millard and Price make no effort to instill
any of such qualities in this movie, crafting nearly every layer
of its existence in a seemingly robotic fashion.
The same lack of passion for the picture displayed by
Miller and Price’s screenplay is embodied by the work of nearly
everyone else involved in its making. The usually-charismatic
Johnson appears in the lead-role only to cash a hefty paycheck,
Pettis establishes herself as a just-average child-actor, and
director Fickman constantly cuts right on-cue to cheap montages
and sappy “emotional”-moments. This is all topped off by a
cloying “twist”-climax that is so expected that it practically
invites viewers to toss popcorn at the screen out of their
frustration in its heavy-handed obviousness. The
Game Plan is a
stale cinematic exercise in unimaginativeness, through and
through.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 9.27.2007
Screened on: 9.22.2007
at the Krikorian Vista Metroplex 15 in Vista, CA.
The Game Plan is rated PG and runs 110 minutes.
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