LEGENDARY
2 out of 5 stars

legendary, this is not... this was the wrestling version of the karate kid, where nerdy and “bean pole” cal asks his older and meatier brother mike to teach him how to wrestle. and guess who his older bro is? that’s right! JOHN F-ING CENA!!! :P


this movie failed on sooooo many different levels... lack of a good plot, lack of good acting, lack of all of the above... however, the story is a bit interesting: this one takes place out in good ol’ sooner country, oklahoma! nerdy cal (the guy who plays teenage dexter) decides to join his high school’s wrestling team. he’s horrible at it until one day, he tracks his depressed older brother mike (john cena in his first serious acting role) to coach him for the regionals. his mother (the great patricia clarkson) resents cal participating in this intermural sport due to the fact that both his dad and brother were champion wrestlers and his father died on a scouting mission with mike. (thus she blames wrestling for taking away her husband’s life) you’ll see how the brothers bond over wrestling, and it’s actually sort of heartwarming to see them practicing together, day after day.

john cena can’t act for shit, thus ruined this movie altogether. i guess they wanted to get an ex-pro wrestler to play the part of tortured soul mike, but no, it doesn’t work in this case AT ALL. j.cena needs to stick with the balls-to-the-wall action b movies he does from time to time to supplement his WWE income. well, it’s his first dramatic movie, so we got to give him some credit, right? patricia clarkson and danny glover redeem this one with their roles, but they could have done so much more with this esp. with a plot with more depth than just some lanky kid who wants to wrestle @ his HS. le sigh... :/