Gridiron Gang Reviews

A juvenile-detention-center counselor tries to impart valuable life lessons through football in this formulaic inspirational tale inspired by real events. Sean Porter (former professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) has worked at Camp Vernon Kilpatrick long enough to know that the overwhelming majority of boys who pass through the camp's hands wind up dead or in adult correctional facilities within a few years. Looking for an alternative to punitive discipline, he comes up with a novel idea: As an unhappy teenager, he found stability and a sense of self-worth in playing football, so why not see if the game does the same for teenage thieves, gang-bangers, drug dealers and killers? His boss, Paul Higa (Leon Rippy), is unenthusiastic, but Porter and fellow counselor Malcolm Moore (rapper Xzibit) forge ahead, recruiting players, requisitioning equipment behind Higa's back, and finding schools that are willing to let their teams play against a lineup of underage thugs. The newly minted Kilpatrick Mustangs face a rocky road: Porter's players bristle at being told what to do, have no discipline whatsoever and resist letting go of the attitudes that got them into trouble in the first place. But Porter's instincts are right; within months most of the youngsters blossom, including Willie Weathers (Jade Yorker) and Kelvin Owens (David Thomas), who learn to set aside their gang-related beefs; insecure Kenny (Trever O'Brien), who just wants his white-trash mother to love him; and perpetually angry Junior Palaita (Setu Taase), who realizes he wants to be a better role model for his 2-year-old son than his father was for him. Lee Stanley coproduced this fictionalized version of his 1992 TV documentary of the same name, and much of screenwriter Jeff Maguire's dialogue comes directly from Stanley's film. There's no arguing with its good intentions, or with the fact that team activities — from organized sports to spelling bees, choir and debate club — can bring much-needed order and discipline into the lives of youngsters whose chaotic, neglectful, overwhelmed or unsupportive families can't. But the film is relentlessly formulaic — it's like a super-sized Afterschool Special with PG-13-rated bad language — and is weighed down by Trevor Rabin's bombastic score, which telegraphs the appropriate emotional response to every feel-good moment. And while Johnson is a powerful physical presence, he's not up to the task of making inspirational slogans about winners and losers seem fresh or authentic.