The uplifting story of detention camp probation officer Sean Porter, who creates a high-school-level football team from a ragtag group of dangerous teenage inmates as a means to teach them self-respect and social responsibility. He is joined in this experiment by co-worker, Malcolm Moore. But Porter must first overcome almost universal resistance from the powers that be -- his skeptical bosses and coaches at rival high schools who don't want their players mixing it up with convicted criminals on the football field.

Like I have said before I am quite impartial to sports films based on football and most times I enjoy the films more than I should at times. The same goes for the Gridiron Gang, despite the fact that the movie is quite weak a lot of the time, I still walked away from the movie entertained and fairly satisfied. The movie isn’t anything you haven’t seen before, and even though it is based on a true story it still feels like it was crafted from a dozen other feel good clichéd sports films dealing with troubled youth overcoming all obstacles to find success. It’s fun to watch these kinds of movies and if you enjoy football and like feel good movies because that’s exactly what you get but that doesn’t help the movie from being very forgettable and clichéd in the end. Good for an afternoon matinee but not something you would be very likely to watch over and over again.

The true events that inspired the movie happened all the way back in 1991 which makes you wonder why it took them so long to make the film. In that fifteen-year span since the true events happened and the release of the film we have seen Hollywood littered with similar stories and similar movies. This makes me wonder if the movie wasn’t better suited to just be shelved for the time being until their was a lapse in these kinds of movies. We have already seen Invincible this year as well as Take the Lead both very similar to Gridiron Gang. Gridiron Gang is like a mixture of these two movies as it deals with troubled youth, football and the underdog overcoming all obstacles. Maybe it’s time to give these kinds of movies a rest for a few years until we aren’t so used to seeing them a couple times a year.

I like the Rock, he truly has charisma which he used very well in the wrestling world of the male soap opera and which translates well onto the big screen. The problem isn’t that he is so likeable and charismatic, it’s the fact that in every single movie he does, he is basically the same character. He is becoming another Sly or an Arnold both of which became so typecast that you knew who their characters were like even before seeing the film. If the Rock wants to be remembered as anything more than just your action/comedy kind of actor he needs to find a role that is totally against his character. I really appreciated when Arnold began to do this in movies like Twins and Kindergarten Cop and I think of that era strongest of his career. The Rock has yet to branch out and until he does you will just get another same old same old performance from him. They had some fun with the supporting cast, especially Xzibit but sometimes it just wasn’t enough. Gridiron Gang is an ok movie that will entertain you but fells like something you have already seen a dozen times.

Grade: C+