KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: 3/5
If you're 30 and dream you still have the talent to be a sports star, this true story about Vince Papale's 1976 call-up for the Philadelphia Eagles football team is just for you.
The rest of us are going to need either a love of football or just of watching men rolling around in the mud to get the most out of this solid, but predictable underdog sports story.
Part-time bartender Vince Papale (Wahlberg) was having a bad week when his friends convinced him to go to the open tryout for his beloved team that was suffering from a serious losing streak. So was Vince. His wife had left him and taken all their possessions, he'd lost his job as a substitute teacher, and had borrowed money from his father to pay the rent.
Aged 30, and with no football experience beyond high school and weekly games with his mates, Papale surprised everyone when new Eagles coach Dick Vermeil (Kinnear) gambled on his own future by selecting him for the training squad, and eventually for the team.
The story is fleshed out to 104 minutes by focusing on the positive impact Papale's success had on his working-class friends and neighbourhood, crippled by industrial action and unemployment. There's also a little love story with fellow bartender thrown in there to keep the ladies happy. Cheers.
Other distractions, for those not interested in slow-motion, bone-crushing shots of football, include the authentic 70s settings, the rocking soundtrack, retro cool wardrobes and impressive afros.
The story, neatly packaged with just the right amount of Hollywood sentimentality, uplifts you briefly, but you begin to wonder whether this production team, that also brought you The Rookie and Remember The Titans, was struggling to find a good story. Wahlberg does almost too good a job at making Papale an ordinary guy trying to better himself, so he comes across as a nice, dull guy who gets lucky. His selection feels more like the action of a desperate coach with nothing to lose, rather than a story about a great sportsman.
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Mark Wahlberg, Elizabeth Banks
Director: Ericson Core
Running Time: 104 minutes
Rating: PG - Low Level Offensive Language
Screening: Skycity, Hoyts and Berkeley
Verdict: Run of the mill sports flick
