Review of Invincible (2006) by Chads. — 27 Aug 2006

"Glory Road" was every bit the by-the-numbers inspirational story that "Invincible" is, but cliches are meant to be transcended. Good actors are the elixir that transforms formula writing into formula writing that is forgivable.

Mark Wahlberg is Vince Papali. Greg Kinnear is Dick Vemeil. Perhaps the most important performance is given by Elizabeth Banks since romantic interludes involving the main character are usually painful timekillers.

She takes a nothing role and makes it special, suggesting an ability to be a poor woman's Rachel McAdams. True, the final football game is too long, therefore exposing the screenwriting nightmare of profiling a special teams player(like a sumo match, their time on the playing surface is over in a flash).

But "Invincible" gets a lot of little things right, in particular, the effect that Papali's success has on his old haunts. They're happy. We're happy. Like the documentary "Dogtown and Z-Boys", "Invincible" makes you marvel at the seventies.

Open tryouts for a professional sports franchise? Incredible. Yuta Tabuse, a point guard from Japan who played for the Phoenix Suns two years ago is the only sports story that remotely resembles Papali's.