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Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

Predictable punt

INVINCIBLE (Ericson Core). 99 minutes. Opens Friday (August 25). For venues and times, see Movies, page 105. Rating: NNN Rating: NNNNN


Invincible might as well be called Inevitable. It’s yet another fact-based Disney inspirational sports movie.

South Philly boy Vince Papale ( Mark Wahlberg ) is a 30-year-old teacher and part-time bartender who loses his teaching job, gets dumped by his wife and then is forced to borrow money from his widowed dad. His only fun comes from his weekly pickup game with the bar guys.

When the flailing Philadelphia Eagles, under the new vision of coach Dick Vermeil ( Greg Kinnear ), decide to hold public tryouts for the team, can you guess what happens?

Yup. What follows is a pretty formulaic pic about overcoming obstacles and believing in oneself. That applies not just to Papale, but as well to Vermeil, who gambles on the rookie.

Director Ericson Core , a former cinematographer (Daredevil), captures the fashions and sounds of 1976 efficiently. The football scenes, shot from various angles, come alive superbly, and there’s even a little nod to that other Philadelphia story about the underdog athlete, albeit without the Bill Conti music.

Wahlberg relies on his familiar less-is-more approach to acting, while Kinnear’s role seems chopped to give more dimension to Papale’s friendships with his barroom pals. The real acting revelation, though, is Elizabeth Banks , who makes her New York Giants-loving love interest into something unpredictable and completely winning.

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