As a practical venture to increase the width of his marketing appeal, I suppose Johnson was relatively successful. As an artistic or creative effort to bolster his reputation as a versatile actor, Johnson made modest strides in a progressive direction. However, as an attempt to produce a truly noteworthy movie, all parties involved, including Johnson, have nothing great to add to their résumés.
The GamePlan is a truly mediocre film, extraordinary only as extremely ordinary.
The Movie
The GamePlan follows superstar quarterback and archetypal showboat Joe Kingman (Johnson) through the gradual maturation prompted by his newly acquired knowledge of an eight-year-old daughter. Honestly, the plot doesn’t need much further description.
Johnson fittingly plays Kingman, although the character development is a bit confusing at times. Kingman is a typically over-confident and selfish superstar athlete, but not so self-important as to play an antagonist, which can make his character a bit contradictory at times, especially early in the movie when the story is trying to establish Kingman as self-centered. For example, the early scenes that feature Kingman on the football field or at a New Year’s Eve party portray the character as extraordinarily egotistical, but other early scenes of Kingman alone or with his dog portray him sympathetically, respectively showing him as materially wealthy but spiritually lonely and extremely affectionate with his dog. I suppose this paradox is designed to succinctly illustrate Kingman’s merit to a young audience, but the simplistic character development is a bit contradictory for a more mature audience. Similarly, the character of Kingman often abruptly alternates between selfish and selfless, as there are a few times in the film when he suddenly reverts to his impatient and self-centered former self after appearing to have progressed toward a more mature and considerate self.
All that, however, is not to say that the film is entirely conflicted. Most young audiences will probably not take offense at the overly simplistic character development, and such straightforward scripting is preferable to an overly complex story that would confuse young viewers.
Johnson does well enough balancing the conflicting egotistical and altruistic sides of Kingman’s character, and the film, while it doesn’t excel in any area, does satisfactorily integrate a broad range of interests. The football scenes are appropriately scripted such that they are more exciting than traditional action but not so exaggerated as to be unbelievable. Similarly, the ballet sequences maintained an appropriate level of excitement while still including examples of traditional choreography. The comedy is predictable and not likely to split any sides, but it does did inject a degree of humor that, while not entirely satisfy, is refreshing, and the love story follows a similarly predictable flow, with a result satisfying in its familiarity.
In addition to such mediocrity, there are a few surprisingly good moments in The GamePlan. There are a couple of sentimental scenes that are more touching than might be expected, and there is a surprising plot twist late in the movie that is particularly unexpected from an otherwise predictable movie.
And while I found Kingman’s elaborately sleek and technologically savvy apartment to be irrelevant to the story, Kingman’s great affinity for Elvis Presley to be largely unexplained (except for the implied connection between the nickname “The King” and Kingman’s last name), and the character of Stella Peck (Kyra Sedgwick) to be a bit too archetypically cold and calculating, I can respect the unnecessary promotion of Disney-owned ESPN and the exceptional performance delivered by young Madison Pettis. Not only was it refreshing to see a new young face on the screen, but her acting was solid and shows promise for the future.
Special Features
In keeping with the overarching theme of the film, the special features are appropriately unremarkable. The deleted scenes are not particularly meaningful or humorous, but director Andy Fickman will tell you how much he enjoys each one of them, how much fun each was to shoot, and why each was cut from the film, the predominant reason for which was simply time constraints. The ‘Bloopers with Marv Albert’ feature contains not-so-funny outtakes with commentary by Albert that falls short of its laugh-inducing goal, but I can appreciate the retro style of the feature and children may, in fact, find the outtakes funny.
The obligatory making-of feature is entitled ‘Drafting The GamePlan’, which is a clever name for a feature that is not particularly insightful. How much fun all the actors had working with Andy Fickman is thoroughly revealed, as several minutes are devoted to praising his skill as a director. While I didn’t find Fickman’s qualities particularly intriguing, it was interesting to learn that production was delayed a few months when Johnson injured his Achilles tendon during filming. Although the result wasn’t a blockbuster, it is nice to know that Disney and the crew was dedicated enough to persevere through the delay.
Finally, two features, ‘ESPN SportsCenter: The Rock Learns to Play QB’ and ‘ESPN SportsCenter DVD/Blu-Ray Exclusive: The King in Search of a Ring’, again capitalize on the cross-promotional capabilities of the film for Disney. The former gives a glimpse into Johnson’s preparation for the role of Kingman, and the latter is the mock SportsCenter segment about Kingman of which parts are shown during the movie. As a fan of SportsCenter, I did enjoy the mock segment, perhaps more so than any other part of the DVD.
Presentation
Perhaps with a developing child audience in mind, or perhaps in keeping with the mediocre theme of the movie, the DVD navigation is simple and basic. Navigating the various menus takes the viewer on a tour of Kingman’s apartment, but there is little to engage the user other than the selection buttons. The transitions among menus are similarly lackluster.
Overall
While I admittedly do not possess the perspective of a young child or a family man, I do not think the movie is particularly remarkable. The story, characters, and emotions are simple enough for children to understand and there is nothing overly horrendous about the film, but, overall, The GamePlan is noteworthy only for its extraordinary mediocrity.