The Game Plan isn't bad, it's just flabby and predictable. If you've seen the trailers, you know exactly what's going to happen. In case you haven't seen them, here's the set-up: the Rock is Joe "The King" Kingman, superstar quarterback of the fictitious Boston Rebels. He's super tough, his team is on a roll, he's rolling in dough (and women) and life is good, or so he thinks. Then his macho world is turned upside down when Peyton (Madison Pettis), the 8-year-old daughter he never knew he had shows up, literally, at his door. Seems she's his offspring from a brief marriage in his youth, and now mom's off for a month doing humanitarian work in Africa.

The King is aghast and, at first says, no. But he caves, Peyton temporarily moves in with him and lovable chaos ensues (at least director Andy Fickman and screenwriters Nichole Millard and Kathyrn Price hope we find it lovable). She puts sparkles on one of his prize footballs, puts his dog in a tutu, puts bubble bath in his jacuzzi, and so on. This provokes much laughter from the King's burly teammates.

Will the King grow into his role as a dad? Will Peyton accept the big lug as her father? If you don't know the answers to these questions, rush to see The Game Plan at once. If you know the answers, you'll find innocuous, sappy family fare, and little more.

Which is a shame because Johnson truly has charisma. Catch The Rundown and Be Cool to see his deft gift for light comedy. The best that can be hoped for is that The Game Plan does well enough at the box office to give the Rock more cinematic opportunities that take advantage of his big screen presence.

The Game Plan is rated PG for some mild thematic elements. Running time: 110 minutes. Macsimum rating: 5 out of 10. You can check out the films' trailers on the [url=http://www.apple.com/trailers/]QuickTime movie trailer site[/url].