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Annapolis Our rating: Rate this movie   Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG-13 (for some violence, sexual content and language) Genre: Family, Fantasy Theater release: January 27, 2006 by Touchstone Directed by: Justin Lin Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes Cast: James Franco (Jake Huard), Tyrese Gibson (Cole),Jordana Brewster (Ali), Donnie Wahlberg (Lt. Cmdr. Burton), Vicellous Reon Shannon (Twins), Roger Fan (Loo),Wilmer Calderon (Estrada), Brian Goodman� (Bill Huard) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Last fall I spent a memorable weekend exploring Annapolis, Maryland with a good friend who recently moved to the historic home of St. John's College. And, oh yeah, in case you didn't notice, the U.S. Naval Academy is next door. We walked down the town's quaint cobblestone streets, had some excellent seafood, and watched boats come and go from our perch at the dock downtown. We also watched midshipmen parade through town in their fall tradition of marching to the football stadium for Saturday's big game, saw men and women in uniform become the center of attention as they picked their way through a crowded bar, and spotted camouflaged Navy trollers patrolling the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. You have to watch carefully or you'll miss them. They are camouflaged after all.

James Franco plays a freshman 'plebe' at the U.S. Naval Academy

Make no mistake about it; Annapolis is a Navy town (though I should point out that St. John's regularly destroys Navy in their annual croquet match). And since I had such a lovely time there, I had a measure of pleasant anticipation as the lights dimmed for my preview screening of the movie set at the Academy and christened with the town's name. But while I continue to harbor fond memories of Annapolis, it's difficult to find anything to praise about Annapolis.

The narrative coddles its audience by offering stock characters reciting clichéd dialogue ("Man, I have dreams too"), and then has the audacity to ask viewers to do the heavy lifting of filling in the gaps in logic when the characters make head–scratching decisions. (Maybe he decided to go back to his old job because … oh I don't know. I give up.)

Donnie Wahlberg (right) as the officer who decides to take a chance on Jake

The story centers around Jake Huard (James Franco), a guy from the wrong side of the tracks (or water, in this case) who is unexpectedly, and inexplicably, admitted to the Academy. He enters with a chip on his shoulder the size of Mississippi—you'll get that joke if you watch the movie, but hopefully you won't ever get that joke—and proceeds to make enemies with his big, bad (and black, but at this point you're so numbed by all the other clichés that have been hurled at you, you hardly notice) commanding officer, Cole (Tyrese Gibson).

Cole talks about what it really takes to make an officer and tells Huard he doesn't have it. There's a lot of talk about honor and knowing "what you're made of." Cole pushes perhaps just a little too hard, we're supposed to think. Our allegiances are torn: The upright Cole or the scrappy Huard? This premise alone isn't bad. An Officer and a Gentleman made some movie magic out of a similar dynamic. But here there's little real suspense, because you don't really care about either of them.

Tension reigns between Jake and Lt. Cole (Tyrese Gibson)

Of course, there's a girl (Jordana Brewster as Ali) and a fat roommate (Vicellous Reon Shannon as Twins) and a commanding officer who won't give up and just might inspire Huard to believe in himself (Donnie Wahlberg as Lt. Cmdr. Burton). And again, all of this clichéd posturing could be forgiven if the characters were just given a plausible scenario to work with. But no. At the Academy in Annapolis, academics are slight and the boxing ring, of all places, is where most lessons are learned. Huh?

Apparently the United States Navy had a similar reaction when it read the script for Annapolis. After reviewing several drafts and offering extensive suggestions, Academy officials ultimately refused to grant the filmmakers permission to use footage shot on campus in the movie. "The problem wasn't that the script had things we don't tolerate at the academy," Cmdr. Bob Anderson, the Navy's liaison to the film industry, told The Washington Post. "The problem was there was no accountability. The offenders weren't held responsible for their misconduct."

Jake falls for another Annapolis student, Ali (Jordana Brewster)

The Post goes on to report that, in an attempt to distance itself from the movie, the Navy sent a service–wide e–mail from its Office of Information in the Pentagon that cautioned: "Navy personnel should avoid the appearance of support to the film as members of the Department of the Navy. Anyone attending a screening or promotional activity for the film should not attend in uniform."

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