By Faith McQuinn

I’ve been reading a few reviews for THE GAME PLAN, and I have to say I’m amazed. Almost every critic out there is ripping it apart for being overly predictable and recycled. Um, hello, did anyone notice that this is a Disney family movie about an athlete with a cute kid? It screams predictability. Disney isn’t the Mecca of family movies for nothing, people. When the formula works, they stick to it. And I must admit, it actually works this time.

I was a little afraid of seeing THE GAME PLAN. I, too, am a person who hates seeing the same movie over and over again. I thought it was simply going to be a silly story with an abundance of sight gags, sappy message moments, and an ending we all knew was coming before the end of the first act. Well, it is a silly story with all that stuff, but there is something about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that makes this story a little more interesting. No, it’s not his impressive biceps (though seeing them plastered on the screen every once in awhile didn’t hurt). Johnson is actually a decent comedic presence. If you’ve seen BE COOL, you know what I mean. The man may be physically suited to play the action hero, but his strong suit is definitely as the comedic hero. The combination of his on screen charm with the adorable Madison Pettis makes for an enjoyable two hours at the movies.

Johnson is Joe “The King” Kingman, quarterback for the Boston Rebels. He’s so much into himself that you might mistake him for Terrell Owens, but Joe’s a sweet guy on the inside. We find this out when a little girl named Peyton (no, not after Manning or Walter) shows up at his door claiming to be his daughter. After he gets over the shock of having an eight year old, Joe quickly turns into Dad, even if he doesn’t do it so well right off the bat. After a month of ruining his apartment, bedazzling his MVP football, dressing up his bulldog, and getting him to be in her ballet recital, Peyton has made Joe into a sweeter, gentler, badass football player.


Peyton doesn’t just do a number on Joe. She, of course, must affect all the other big, mean men on the team. Soon, all the guys are showing up to her ballet recital, giving her stuffed animals, and having water gun fights in the locker room. The only person she doesn’t seem to soften is Joe’s agent Stella (played by Kyra Sedgewick). But this is just another Disney movie element—there must always be a not-so-good person who stays not so good but realizes she’s been foiled in the end. Sedgewick does a great job as the nothing-but-business agent, and I even laughed out loud at the fart joke she makes near the end of the movie.

THE GAME PLAN is not a movie for fans of the wrestler The Rock.  This is a movie for fans of the actor Dwayne Johnson. There is a minimal amount of football scenes, and even though he’s in basically every frame of the movie, there are no arched eyebrows or big action scenes. This is definitely a family film made to keep the kids entertained and the parents smiling. Now, he just needs to work on getting “The Rock” completely out of his name in the title credits.