The Chaperone - In gita per caso

Well this movie was somewhat of a surprise. Who knew that WWE could come up with something straight out of the Disney family movie production drawer?

The story is pretty simple and straight forward. Ray Bradstone (played by Paul Levesque) comes out from prison after 7 years of incarceration, and wants to reacquaint himself with his estranged daughter Sally (played by Ariel Winter). But friends from his old criminal past manage to convince Ray to do one more job. Then things get mixed up and turn complicated.

The cast in the movie did a good job with their roles, and I must admit that despite his wrestling career, then Paul Levesque actually did a good job with that role. And of course this movie, being a family movie, have lots of stereotypical characters in it.

"The Chaperone" is good entertainment for kids and adults alike.

I watched this on Amazon streaming movies. I was attracted to it mainly because it is set and filmed in places I used to live, I am always curious to see how the moviemakers handle that.

It is a theme used many times, a man gets out of prison after 7 years and has to try to get back in the good graces of his family. In this case it is mostly the young daughter who is about 12 years old. Paul Levesque is an imposing man, playing the ex-con Ray Bradstone who his old robbery mates called "Ray-Ray." In prison he has become a changed man and just wants to go by Ray. And get his family back.

Ray's daughter is in school in Lafayette (where I went to college some years back) and her class is taking an overnight trip to New Orleans. Ray quite accidentally gets to be a chaperone, much to the chagrin of his daughter. While the kids are trying to enjoy the field trip Ray is being hounded by his former partners who think he has the money from a botched robbery of the bank in Lafayette the day before.

The arc of the story is pretty predictable but I found it interesting to see how they got there. The movie overall is entertaining enough. Interestingly the daughter is played by Ariel Winter who probably was 12 during filming but doesn't seem to be in the cast credits. She was so small, it was quite a sight to see her standing or walking next to Levesque.

Plus the Lafayette scenes were filmed in Algiers near the bridge, not far from where my wife grew up and went to school, just across the river from downtown New orleans while the New Orleans scenes were filmed in and near downtown and the French Quarter.

Not a bad movie at all, just lightweight.

An ex-con is trying to go straight and be a good dad to his daughter. He agrees to chaperone his daughter's class field trip. However two criminal associates of his chase after him and hijinks ensue. This is a lukewarm attempt by pro wrestler Paul Levesque (aka Triple H) to follow the Rock into making family movies like The Tooth Fairy. It's not bad for what it is but I was kind of surprised to find it wasn't made for television. Levesque is perfectly fine in his role. He does nothing to impress or offend. It's nothing special but kids and people wanting to watch innocuous 'action' movies might like it. Also I guess big wrestling fans might like it.

Now I can probably guess what most of the people would think when hearing about this film for the first time. We have a WWE produced family comedy/light drama with wrestler Triple H in the title role. He doesn't quite look like the guy for this kinda role but then again we shouldn't judge the book by its cover. In truth Triple H can actually act. I found myself believing his acting and liking his character. I gotta say I enjoyed this movie more than some of Steve Austins action bloodbaths. If I was to give you some advice itd be go see this without prejudice. Leave expectations at the door and just go with the flow - the ride ain't half bad.

6/10

After serving time in prison "Ray Bradstone" (Paul Levesque) is finally released and returns to his home only to find that his ex-wife "Lynne" (Annabeth Gish) and his young, teenage daughter "Sally" (Ariel Winter) have started a new life on their own and want nothing to do with him. To make matters even worse, he finds extreme difficulty finding a job and as a result reluctantly teams up with some of his former colleagues who are planning a bank heist and want him to be wheel man. Right before that, however, he learns that Sally is going on a field trip to New Orleans and the teacher in charge named "Miss Miller" desperately needs a chaperone to help her out. Being terribly conflicted and confused he decides to join the school field trip at the last minute. The problem is that his decision is at the exact same time the bank robbery is in progress. Not only that, but as the school bus leaves the burglars all believe that Ray has double-crossed them and has absconded with their stolen loot. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay family-comedy which suffered from a predictable plot and a rather weak script. Fortunately, both Paul Levesque and Annabeth Gish turned in solid performances and because of that I have rated this film accordingly. Average.