Etcetera @ The Movies: Invincible - [Matthew]

Invincible tells the based-on-a-true-story story of Vince Papale, a Philadelphia bartender who, after losing his teaching job and wife, wins a spot on the Philadelphia Eagles team in an open tryout.

Now, a few things must be said: it’s a PG underdog film. From Disney. I wasn’t surprised that I liked it so much as I was that there weren’t any talking dogs or animated manifestations of a character’s conscience.

Mark Wahlberg (Three Kings, Four Brothers) shines in the role of Papale. And say what you will about his acting, Wahlberg can (and usually does) play the roughneck blue-collar outsider really well. I could be picky and say his performance is too stoic, but this is a movie about football and sons and dads and times when it’s the things unsaid that matter, so the play will stand as called.

The Eagles’ new coach Dick Vermeil (played by Greg Kinnear) takes the helm of a losing franchise and as such has quite a bit on the line himself. Kinnear is solid here and, as is the Kinnear way, occasionally veers into smarmy-land, which is fine. It’s part of his appeal.

The story is set against the bleak and desperate backdrop of mid-70s Philadelphia and director Ericson Core manages to keep a fair amount of believable grittiness on screen in what, according to my research, appears to be his feature directorial debut.

The football action is hard and fast and doesn’t pull punches on the hits. In a particularly memorable scene, Wahlberg catches a pass, then gets tackled as his whole body twists in the wrong direction. Gnarly.

In all, Invincible is an enjoyable, feel-good story (screenplay by Brad Gann) that, despite my closest scrutiny, doesn’t ping on the sappy-o-meter. It’s also a film you can recommend without any caveats. And if that’s not enough for you, there’s an actor in the film named Stink Fisher.

Seriously.

Four out of five stars

Opens nationwide this Friday, August 25th

Rated PG for sports action and some mild language

Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes



[end ping]