Are you ready for some football?! How about a Disney-produced comedy, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (“Gridiron Gang”) as a star quarterback, who learns he has a young daughter when she shows up one day at his bachelor pad? This film is short on football scenes, emphasizing more the quarterback’s relationship with his team - off the field -, his celebrity, and his newly discovered child. The story starts to grow on you as you get further into the film, but the beginning is a bit bumpy because The Rock’s character doesn’t come across as particularly likeable.
Johnson is Joe Kingman, a super celebrity of a football league, who plays starting quarterback for a Boston team. Kingman is a huge Elvis fan and sees himself as a rock star of the gridiron. A bachelor, who loves himself most and his little dog second, Kingman is shocked to find a small child knocking on his door on New Year’s Day. The girl turns out to be his illegitimate and heretofore unknown child from an old relationship. The girl, Peyton, spins a tale to her father that her mother dropped her off with him, because of an emergency trip to Africa. Kingman is perplexed with how to care for someone other than himself, and tries to integrate Peyton into his routine of agents, advertisers, liquid health drinks, and morning work-outs. Peyton ends up changing Kingman’s world - and his priorities - a lot more than he had expected.
Peyton is played by Madison Pettis in her first film role, though she handles herself like a pro. She is engaging and cute, with good comedic timing. Johnson is intimidating initially in his role as the star athlete, especially towards the young girl. Kingman is a different type of character than Johnson is used to playing, showing the former wrestler has some range. However, his character isn’t so much funny in his vanity and cockiness as he is insensitive and harsh. The young Pettis carries most of the film’s humor on her tiny shoulders, with some limited assistance from Kingman’s teammates.
The Rock does sing, play football, and perform ballet in his role as Kingman, which are some of the more entertaining portions of the film However, this doesn’t happen until the back half of the movie, making the first half an unoriginal paint-by-numbers Disney family film. Kingman’s teammates fill all the expected roles - dumb guy, big and silent type, the family man. Some humor comes from these stereotypes, but inducing a smirk rather than a guffaw.
There are some sweet scenes between Peyton and Kingman, where some emotion is shown, and two climactic sequences in the film, which have you pulling for everything to work out. Overall, the Rock may have stifled his charisma a little too much for this role, creating a distinctive character which the audience doesn’t care too much about. Those who enjoy Disney family films will like this new movie, not because of its originality but because it treads familiar ground.
Rated PG for some mild thematic elements.
