foolishewe

I just came from and advanced screening tonight and it was an entertaining feel-good movie. The movie is based on a true "local guy makes good" story, and quite entertaining (although after searching online for Papale, it appears that they may have taken a bit of dramatic license with some of the details). The story telling and acting were good. I think Kinnear's presentation of Dick Vermeil (I remember seeing Vermeil on the local T.V. a lot back then) was outstanding. Mark Wahlberg gave a credible performance as a determined underdog here, he seems to be maturing as an actor, and from what I could tell was in good physical condition to play this role. Kirk Acevado and Mark Raspoli put in good supporting performances as (sometime) supportive friends and relatives. The movie is an O.K. family movie if you don't mind a bit of swearing and sports/football violence (tackles, blocks and those sorts of things).

I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, and can remember the atmosphere in my home town and, to a lesser extent, Philadelphia at that time. The decline of manufacturing, labor disputes and unemployment/hardship on workers and their families was well presented. My recollections of the Eagles were that the team was pretty weak and the fans being very vocal in their disappointment (this is a Philadelphia tradition for all their sports, it isn't just reserved for football). Among my favorite scenes is some neighborhood football that brought back some memories (although our games were a bit less brutal). There are a number of funny scenes in the movie and quick one-liners (which I won't spoil here).

I liked this film, but I'm very partial to good character development. I especially liked the portrayal of Lilo (a traumatized orphan) and her big sister, Nani. If you may want to watch the movie with your child if they are young, since kids can be susceptible to fears of abandonment The other central figure, Stitch is comical and appears to be intelligent. The animation, choice of music and gags in the movie were also good. The plot was a little weak (especially the second half of the movie). I rated this 7 out of 10, I'll be looking for more work from Sanders and DeBlois (the writers). Perhaps if Disney could leave a few loose ends or avoid forcing every story to an almost predictable happy ending, then the real skill of these writers might shine through.

Many reviews here focus on whether you can suspend disbelief on Sean Penn's performance as a retarded/autistic man. Before going into that, I'll go out on a limb here and say that the mental defects were incidental to the plot, the real issue was how much love Sam (Penn's characte) has for his daughter, Lucy (played by Dakota Fanning). These performances are masterful, Penn really departs from his trouble maker persona in so many of his earlier movies and shows depth that I really didn't expect from him. This is a breakthrough movie for him, and shows a range far exceeding my expectations Dakota Fanning gives a remarkable performance (I want to see her in other roles). I'm not very familiar with the behaviors of mildly autistic/retarded people, but I did find the Sam character believable. I think part of the issue is the same phenomena as Forrest Gump, that is the genius of the actor comes through, so you have a "brilliant idiot" As the father of a young daughter, I could relate. Michelle Pfeiffer's character was O.K. but not really central to the plot (her acting was O.K. I guess, but not great). My wife found the intrusive nature of the way the social workers were portrayed compelling. Other review have compared this movie to Rain Man and Kramer vs. Kramer. I thought this movie was more powerful than Rain Man (which was also good) but I have not seek Kramer vs. Kramer so I cannot make that comparison.

I gave the story a 9/10, but if your not a parent or don't like emotional movies you might give it a lower rating.