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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that while the on-the-field game/practice violence is typical of recent sports movies (though louder and more brutal), the film also includes street/gun violence. One scene has a player repeatedly trying to knock down his coach (an exercise designed by the coach). Two scenes show shootings with blood, and a couple of scenes show fights between players (they're quickly broken up by adults). Characters use harsh language (especially the n-word and "s--t").
Families can talk about how group identities and loyalties are formed, whether in the form of neighborhood gangs or sports teams. They can also discuss the ways that such new loyalties can replace lost or broken family ties. How does Willie learn to trust his coach? How are the kids impressed equally by the coach's toughness and his sensitivity?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
Punctuated by rough action scenes, GRIDIRON GANG is a familiar sports saga with kids in need of guidance and a coach in need of support from his institution. At once uplifting and banal, "based on a true story" and codified (not to say "Disneyfied"), the formula is also apparently endlessly profitable.
This time, it's also based on a 1993 documentary (clips from that film, also called Gridiron Gang, play during the closing credits and suggest that Jeff Maguire's script lifts heartfelt dialogue directly from the original speakers). The movie is also invigorated by The Rock (a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson), whose performance is simultaneously wry and warm. Charismatic as ever (and not nearly as daunting as he was in his recent appearance on Punk'd), The Rock plays Sean Porter, manager of a youth detention facility, as a creative coach and grateful son. He also makes the movie's basic corniness slightly easier to bear.
Long frustrated by a legal system that sends kids through endless cycles of violence in the streets, their homes, and their juvie blocks, Sean is moved to action when ex-inmate Roger (Michael J. Pagan) is killed in a drive-by shooting within hours of his release from Camp Kilpatrick. Sean's solution: Organize the violence into football.
Though his boss, Paul (Leon Rippy), is predictably skeptical about spending the facility's scant state-issued funds on such a body-slamming venture ("The whole system," he notes, "is designed to make them avoid contact"), Sean and his whistle-wearing assistant Malcolm (Xzibit) assemble a team of hard cases. Because they're inclined to defend their turf ("He dissed my hood!" explains one inmate following a scuffle), Sean gives them a new source of identification. "This is your hood now," he asserts, the kids gazing up at him with a mix of doubt and hope.
Some of the kids are briefly distracted by the usual obstacles -- Roger's cousin Willie (Jade Yorker) likes a girl (Jurnee Smollett), Kenny (Trever O'Brien) is rejected by his mom, Junior (Setu Tasse) suffers an injury during practice. And Sean grapples with his own pain and his ailing mother (L. Scott Caldwell).
Together, they find a purpose -- to beat back the other teams, in particular one that includes a white boy who calls Willie the n-word. The Mustangs, as the detention center team is called, engage in repeated drills of the montage-y sort, learning to tackle, catch, pass, and appreciate Coach's efforts.
Families who like this movie might also enjoy Glory Road, Remember the Titans, and Friday Night Lights.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSome references to sexuality (brief negative allusions to homosexuality); cheerleaders wear scant costumes; some sexual/gender slang. |
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ViolenceAn early scene shows explicit effects of gunfire (fast editing, loud noise, close-up of bloody body); football action is loud and hard-hitting; some fights between inmates are aggressive; shooting near end of film comes abruptly and disturbingly; death of protagonist's mother leaves characters mournful. |
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LanguageWhite player calls a black player the n-word, initiating an ongoing conflict; repeated uses of "s--t" (in various forms) and "ass" occasional other language ("damn," "suck it up," "bitch," "p--sy"). |
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Social BehaviorJuvenile detention inmates are inspired to work as a team, slamming opponents on the football field. |
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CommercialismVisible Under Armour gear, reference to Madden video games. |
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