There’s often an Action Star notable for doing his own stunts, likable screen persona, iconic performances, and a muscular macho image. Once an action star makes it to the big leagues as an A-Lister, he’ll eventually become a mule of himself by starring in a family comedy. For example, Vin Diesel is known for playing Riddick, Triple XXX, Groot, and Dominic Toretto. (arguably his most iconic role) As his popularity drastically increases, he went on to star in a Disney clunker called “The Pacifier.” As a result, most of his fans and critics kinda felt embarrassed for him. Maybe he did it because he wanted to make a family film so that his children can watch him, besides his usual roles as an Action Hero.
Wrestler turned actor, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took a similar path by starting with a career as a macho Action Star, to a Babysitter On The Punch-Clock.
In response to the upcoming follow up to Jumanji coming out in December, here’s a movie starring Johnson, back when he was skinny lookin, before he gained a lot of muscle as Luke Hobbs in The Fast & The Furious franchise. It’s not The Tooth Fairy, it’s called The Game Plan.
The Game Plan was released in 2007. It was a modest box office success but it also received negative reviews.
The following article contains SPOILERS. Read at your own risk.
Touchdown: Dwayne Johnson did an ok job as an egomaniac football player (a la Gaston from Beauty & The Beast) named, Joe Kingman.
Fun Fact: Johnson also participated in a football related film called Grinding Gang.
Like his future role in Moana, The Rock also did his own singing.
Only two scenes got me laughing is when Joe accidentally eats cinnamon, causing his tongue to swell speaking in gibberish and a fart scene.
The song “Mr. Blue Sky,” from Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2) plays in the background during a football/ballet Montage Sequence.
Similar to Disney’s rival Dreamworks ending with a dance party, The End Credits sequence ends with the cast singing and dancing to Elvis Presley’s song “Burning Love.”
Time Out: Seriously? Why does every Disney movie have a fetish for dead mothers since Bambi? Why can’t they try something completely different like an aunt or uncle, instead reusing the same cliche over and over again?
Too much cutsie moments with Peyton. I understand this is a family oriented movie, but as a male viewer myself who’s not into cute puppy dog related entertainment, it kinda felt forced like a Teletubbies episode.
Product Placement featuring several brands such as Coca-Cola. I’ll give this a pass because sports related programs includes sponsorship.
An Annoying musical score containing way too much whimsical elements.
The film felt like a sappy made for TV Lifetime movie trying a little too hard on the dramatic parts whenever Joe & Peyton are sharing scenes together.
Final Shot of the movie, ends with a cheesy freeze frame.
Final Verdict: D FOR DUMMY!
Besides The Tooth Fairy, The Game Plan is perhaps Dwayne Johnson’s embarrassing movie in his career as an actor. Like I said about Diesel’s possible reason to star in The Pacifier, Johnson probably thought it was the right time to make a family oriented film so that his kids can watch him. As time went on, he got better with his roles in The Fast & The Furious franchise and Moana. In the future, he’s gonna star as a supervillian named Black Adam in a film called “Shazam,” which is set in the DC Cinematic Universe. Let’s see if he has what it takes to star as Shazam’s arch nemesis.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 