The Rockuary: The Game Plan

Not actually related.

What do you get when you add Dwayne Johnson, Disney, and some kid?  Well, apparently you get "The Game Plan."  And while I don't think this movie really sold on the kind of actor that Dwayne is, it did convince me that he can do different things while sticking into his "tough guy" persona we've always known him to have.  Sure, there's really nothing in this movie that's original, and some of the dialogue and scenes here feel very contrived, but it's mostly harmless.  This movie isn't exactly the groundbreaking, star-making, in-your-face movie we want from Dwayne, but for what it is, I found it rather enjoyable.  An interesting side note about this particular movie is that it's the last movie that uses Dwayne's ring name as part of the credit.  It's the last time he's credited Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

So, we see Dwayne here as a star quarterback known as Joe Kingman, who is this arrogant, brash, pompous guy who takes himself rather seriously, and doesn't really like to involve his teammates in the big plays.  And because of it, he never can seem to win the championship.  Like I said, pretty cliche and contrived, but at least he's not himself an inner-city thug trying to learn the importance of not being a criminal.  So we've got that.

The next morning, an 8-year old girl appears on Kingman's doorstep claiming that she is his biological daughter and that his divorced wife sent her there to meet him.  Her name is Peyton Kelly (played by a reasonably talented Madison Pettis); however, Kingman's agent, Stella Peck (played by a more robotic Kyra Sedgewick) thinks that this will be bad for his image.  And initially, she's right.

At the opening of his own restaurant, Kingman leaves without Peyton, and it is on the cover of a tabloid magazine the next day.  Peck decides that Kingman needs to have a fatherly image.  At a later conference, the reporters make Kingman miserable, but little Peyton comes to the aid of Kingman and explains that Joe is new at all this, and was basically thrown into a situation where he wasn't prepared.  This garners sympathy, and allows Kingman to save face.  But ohhhhhhh is there a price to pay.

And of course, since all 8-year-old girls like ballet, Peyton forces Kingman to take her to ballet class ran by the closest thing to a romantic interest in the movie, Monique Vasquez (played by the always prancing Roselyn Sanchez, who I think was in that movie "Center Stage" about the crappy ballet dancers who I couldn't give a shit about.  [get back to me on that if that's the movie I'm thinking of]) and wouldn't you know it, now by whatever con, Kingman now has to participate in ballet.  It was to show that ballet dancers can be just as athletic and physical as football players.  Kingman and Peyton finally start their relationship after Peyton brings to attention that Kingman's an arrogant asshat.

Soon however, we get the whole liar reveal arch, where Peyton accidentally tells Kingman that she was supposed to be at ballet camp, but she ran away in order to find her father, and that this makes Joe angry that Peyton has been a distraction.  It's further explained through an allergic reaction that Peyton has to peanuts that her mother, Kingman's ex-wife, had been killed in a car accident and that Peyton was staying with Kingman's former sister-in-law.  And the movie sort of just passes over these facts rather casually.  And there's the whole moping scene where Kingman realizes that Peyton was the best thing that had happened to him... it's pretty formulaic and a bit groan-worthy, but for what it gave, it's pretty harmless and it doesn't become the focus for very long.

It's championship game time, and Kingman gets injured.  Peyton returns to his side and gives him the same words of encouragement he once gave her, not to give up and throw away opportunities, and in the end, Kingman learns the value of teamwork, and the value of being a father.  He turns down a multi-million dollar sponsorship, and decides to be a father.  And it all wraps up rather nicely.

So, that's "The Game Plan" in a nutshell, and while it didn't exactly add anything revolutionary to the awkward father story formula, it does do a good representation of it.  It has a cohesive story, and there are a few touching moments.  Madison Pettis is also a pretty competent actor, and fortunately she's not overbearing nor hard to listen to.  It's clear that she wanted to get the job done not only right, but well.  I do think, that this movie is really the movie that showed that Dwayne Johnson does have potential, and does have range.

On a scale from one to Super Mega Awesome, I'm going to rate this movie a Really Good.  Tune in next time when The Rockuary tackles (see what I did there) "Get Smart (2008)"