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Over the years, family films released by Disney have been a mixed bag. Sometimes you get a disappointing film, sometimes a bad one, and occasionally a surprise. Well surprisingly, The Game Plan falls into the latter category. Like Disney’s earlier February release Bridge to Terabithia, there is more to this film than meets the eye. The Game Plan is certainly not as good as Bridge to Terabithia, but it is family friendly, ambitious and filled with good intentions.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson continues his acting trek as stud quarterback Joe Kingman, an all too convenient name. Kingman has just lead his team, the Boston Rebels, into the playoffs in search of his first championship ring. The film presents Joe as a self-centered jerk that is way too proud of himself. His play on the field reflects that as he usually chooses to make plays by himself instead of letting his teammates help him. He’s the kind of guy who loves to be the center of attention and he has more money than he knows what to do with, living in a giant apartment complex with everything one could dream of.

One day he finds a young girl named Peyton (Madison Pettis of TV’s Cory in the House) on his doorstep who claims she is his daughter and has a birth certificate to prove it. Her story is that her mother, whom Joe was briefly married to, has been called away to an emergency trip overseas in Africa and will be gone for a month. Having nobody to take care of Peyton, her mother sends her to live with Joe. Of course Joe is shocked by this news of having a child he’s never met. At first he doesn’t know how to handle things. He lets her tag along to his outings like practice and night parties. The press gets a hold of Joe accidentally leaving Peyton at one of those parties and this severely damages his image. Under the council of his agent Stella (Kyra Sedgwick, TV’s Cold Case), Joe decides the best thing to do is to look like the world’s greatest dad. What begins as some sort of media charade develops into a close bond between Joe and Peyton.

Dwayne Johnson gives a very middle-of-the-road performance as Joe. At times he embarrasses himself and at other times he shows he has the potential of a quality actor. He manages to not sink the film, while it’s little Madison Pettis who steals the show as Peyton. Peyton is a very young and talented ballet student which is the polar opposite of what Joe is interested in. This creates some humorous situations, especially involving him and Peyton’s ballet instructor Monique (Roselyn Sanchez, 2001′s Rush Hour 2).

Director Andy Fickman (2006′s She’s the Man) seems to put a little more emphasis on trying to make The Gameplan a comedy rather than a relationship drama. There are a few jokes that are left up in the air and several of the characters are overblown and hold the film down. Kyra Sedgwick plays a similar role as Joe’s agent to that of Amy Poehler in the recent Mr. Woodcock. She is very on the edge and borderline crazy. Joe’s teammates are for the most part funny, except for one (Eamon Brooks, TV’s The Bronx is Burning) who is really unbelievably stupid and consequently that rubs off on the jokes that involve him.

What makes The Game Plan work is that the script is surprisingly thoughtful and well-written, despite the jokes that miss and the cliched happily-ever-after. The bond formed between Joe and Peyton isn’t cast aside and Fickman handles Joe’s transition from jerk to loving father with care. There are also some touching scenes to be found here as well. The third act is really good stuff and it includes a twist that will possibly hit you hard. There are some very funny scenes in the movie and if the bad jokes were replaced with more of the elements found in the third act, this could have been one of the year’s surprise hits.

As it stands though, The Game Plan is a suitable family feature and suffices as a not totally wasted 110 minutes. Despite it’s flaws, there is cleverness to be found here as well as a heart. We all know where the film’s destination will end at but the journey there is not entirely predictable. The film never loses focus of it’s central characters and they are worth caring about. Thus the film is as well.