The Gameplan

PLOT

In the last game of the American Football Federation regular season between the Boston Rebels and the New York Dukes, Rebels quarterback Joe Kingman scores a touchdown after ignoring an open wide receiver, Travis Sanders. The next morning, an eight-year-old girl named Peyton Kelly arrives on Joe's doorstep saying that she is his biological daughter, and that his ex-wife, Sara, sent her there for a month while Sara does volunteer aid in Africa. His agent, Stella Peck, thinks this will be bad for his image and distracts him with the upcoming playoffs.

At the opening of his own restaurant/nightclub and bar, Joe inadvertently leaves without Peyton and is on the cover of a tabloid the next day. Stella decides Joe needs a new fatherly image. At a later press conference, the reporters make Joe miserable, until Peyton comes to his defense, saying that he is new to this and trying the best he can and that she thinks he is the best father in the world. Peyton then says that Joe has to repay her, so she has him take her to a ballet academy run by Monique Vasquez. Monique has Joe join their ballet performance to show him that ballet takes just as much athletic ability as football. Joe and Peyton begin their relationship after Peyton calls his arrogant and selfish behavior to his attention. Joe takes Peyton and her new friends to the mall where he begins to develop romantic feelings for Monique.

The Rebels march through the playoffs via three road games: Denver in the wild-card round, Indianapolis in the Divisional round, and finally Baltimore in the Conference round. They eventually make it to the championship game held in Arizona in a rematch with the New York Dukes. Stella offers Joe a $25 million endorsement deal with Fanny's Burgers, a successful fast-food restaurant run by Samuel Blake, Jr., if he wins the game and mentions the product to the press.

While at lunch with Monique at the Barking Crab, Joe asks Peyton when her mother is coming to get her as the month is almost over and Peyton accidentally reveals that her mother is not coming. She admits that she was supposed to go to a ballet school program for the month, but she instead ran away to meet her father. Before Joe can fully process this, Peyton has an allergic reaction to the nuts in the dessert she was eating. As a result of heavy traffic, Joe is forced to physically carry her to the hospital. The rest of the team comes to the hospital to show their support. Fortunately, despite the doctor claiming it was a close call, Joe was able to get her administered in time and Peyton is going to be fine.

As he and the team are relieved by the news, Joe's former sister-in-law and Peyton's legal guardian, Karen Kelly (whom Peyton claimed to have died) arrives. She is initially furious, believing Joe had kidnapped Peyton until she realizes Peyton did not tell Joe that Sara died in a traffic accident six months earlier. After Peyton overhears Stella on the phone explaining that she would be a huge distraction to Joe, Peyton decides to return home with Karen. Later, while going through Peyton's bag under her bed at Joe's house, Joe finds some photos and reads a letter from Sara, saying that she hid Peyton away from Joe because his career was just starting and she didn’t want Peyton to be a distraction to him.

As the championship game begins, Joe's mind is not fully set on the game and he is soon injured. Joe is then surprised to discover that Peyton has arrived with Karen. Understanding Joe's earlier words about how he wants to remain in Peyton's life, Karen decides to let Peyton live with Joe. Near the end of the fourth quarter, Joe passes the ball to the running back, Jamal Webber, who gains positive yardage but fails to get out of bounds. Joe hurries his team to the line with the clock running and rushes ahead before being knocked out of bounds. With time for one last play, Joe throws a lob pass to Sanders, who catches the pass, allowing the Rebels to win their first championship. In a post-game interview, Joe declines the Fanny's Burgers' offer to be with Peyton.

CAST

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Joseph "Joe" Kingman

Madison Pettis as Peyton Kelly

Roselyn Sánchez as Monique Vasquez

Kyra Sedgwick as Stella Peck

Morris Chestnut as Travis Sanders

Paige Turco as Karen Kelly

Hayes MacArthur as Kyle Cooper

Brian J. White as Jamal Webber

Jamal Duff as Clarence Monroe

Lauren Storm as Nanny Cindy

Gordon Clapp as Coach Mark Maddox

Kate Nauta as Tatianna

Robert Torti as Samuel "Sam" Blake Jr.

Elizabeth Chambers as Kathryn

Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason portray themselves, offering commentary in every game. Steve Levy also portrays himself as part of one game's postgame coverage for SportsCenter. Stuart Scott makes a cameo as himself on SportsCenter giving a report on Joe Kingman.