CinemaNow - Game Plan

One thing that most critics appear to agree on: If Disney's game plan was to make The Game Plan a movie that would appeal strongly to kids 15 and younger, it succeeded. Jane Horwitz writes unenthusiastically in the Washington Post: "It is an amiable enough movie and ought to give warm and fuzzy amusement to kids 8 and older, even as it will appear utterly contrived to adult eyes." The film stars wrestler-turned-actor Duane "The Rock" Johnson, who draws polite applause. David Germain of the Associated Press says that "Johnson combines an effective mix of swaggering charm, cluelessness and childish enthusiasm." Gene Seymour in Newsday asks, "Why isn't Dwayne Johnson a big star by now? The camera loves him. He's funny, self-deprecating. ... It could be that he hasn't quite found the right vehicle to drive home his persona." This movie may not be that vehicle, either. As Robert W. Butler notes in the Kansas City Star: "Johnson pretty much drips on-screen charisma, but he can't overcome the banality of The Game Plan, a comedy so formulaic and uninspired that you'd swear you've seen the movie before." And Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News concludes her review of the movie by remarking, "The only mystery, in fact, is why Johnson chose to make this film in the first place. He could be -- should be -- one of the biggest action stars of the era. Instead, he's wasting his talents on one mediocre movie after another."

Good family movie.