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Invincible Our rating: Rate this movie   MPAA rating: PG (for sports action and some mild language) Genre: Drama, Sports Theater release: August 25, 2006 by Walt Disney Pictures Directed by: Ericson Core Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes Cast: Mark Wahlberg (Vince Papale), Greg Kinnear (Dick Vermeil), Elizabeth Banks (Janet) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Retired NFL coach Dick Vermeil is known for turning around struggling football programs, inspiring his teams, and leading the St. Louis Rams to Super Bowl victory in 2000. But he's maybe best known for crying a lot. He's an emotional, big-hearted guy who, moved by the thrills and agony of the game, tears up on the sidelines, in press conferences, in locker rooms. Knowing that, I was sort of surprised that Vermeil's character in the true-life football drama Invincible doesn't tear up once.

But I wasn't surprised that I did. A couple of times. Invincible is the latest in Disney's heartwarming line of true sports stories like Remember the Titans, Glory Road, and The Rookie. Like those previous films, Invincible is a heartstrings-pulling, tear-jerking, inspiring, hopeful drama of guts and determination where people like us overcome big odds to set an example for all those around.

Invincible's inspiring everyman hero is Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg), a 30-year-old down-on-his-luck but affable bartender. A stud at backyard football, a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan, and everyone's shoulder to cry on, Vince is the glue that holds his working class friends together. And then, his life unravels financially and personally.

A new door of opportunity opens for Vince in 1976 when Vermeil, the new coach of the struggling Eagles, makes an unconventional move: He holds open tryouts. After unending teasing and encouragement, Vince finally agrees to go down to the tryouts. If nothing else, this "number one Eagles fan" figures it's at least a chance to be on the same field his heroes have walked.

Of course, you can guess how the story goes from there. They wouldn't have made a movie if he got cut on the first day. Instead, he's a fitting underdog hero. He's not big or strong or tough. But he has heart and he won't stop trying. His courageous journey from hopeless bartender to Philadelphia Eagle is given extra thematic weight because of the sad economic situation for industrial workers in urban Philly at the time. It's one thing to have a sports hero or team unite a city—but it's another when he's one of the people. In Invincible, you watch a working class guy's mere heart and grit galvanize Philly by refusing to stay put when knocked down and trading his seat in the stands for a helmet. This is a movie that families—especially those with die-hard sports fans—will enjoy together. Any Joe Blow sports fan will watch Papale walk out into Veterans Stadium or through its locker room and daydream about what it would be like if they could go from holding a foam finger to playing alongside their heroes. The movie reminds us why sports are so important—they inspire us because anyone can be a hero.

Greg Kinnear as Coach Dick Vermeil

Vince Papale is Philadelphia's version of Rocky. Oh wait, Rocky was from Philly, too. He's the 1970s version of Rocky. Oh wait. Okay, he is Rocky—but for football. And the film comparisons don't stop there. Really, Invincible is Rocky meets Seabiscuit meets Hoosiers meets The Rookie meets Remember the Titans meets Cinderella Man.

Evoking all of those endeared films is not necessarily a bad thing; the inspiring zero-to-hero sports story resonates in us. We want to tell and hear that story over and over because of how it makes us feel. We want a hero who brings us hope that maybe we can overcome odds too. We wantto be the underdog who rises to the top. That plotline really never gets old. But since it's been told so many times—and so well—weaknesses may seem more evident. In fact, if Invincible wasn't a true story, its clichés, far-fetched plot and predictability could be considered faults. But how can you blame the movie when it's just relating what really happened? You can't point a finger at the facts, but you can question the way the story is told. The movie is pretty much a by-the-numbers telling without much to set it apart from the long list of good sports films. In fact, Invincible's real unique aspect—the journey of a fan who's barely played the game all of a sudden suiting up for his team—is pretty much muted in favor of the well-tread "inspiring the city" plot.

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