Leading Ladies: January 2006
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AnnapolisStars: James Franco, Jordana Brewster, Donnie Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson Welcome to Cliche City, where this Rocky-meets-An Officer and a Gentleman drama, about a townie who wants to make it as a Naval officer, only to square off with a domineering commanding officer, doesn't manage to offer one single fresh take on the tried (and tired) "straighten up and be a man" story, say the female critics. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Carrie Rickey says, "Much as I enjoyed screenwriter Dave Collard's freshman effort, Out of Time, there's not much to say about his sophomore (and sophomoric) screenplay, which seems to have gleaned its insights from the fortune-cookie factory." The Chicago Reader's Andrea Gronvall says "[Collard] overlooks no cliché as Franco plods through test after rigorous test, getting buff and tough while other plebes bite the dust." And Salon's Stephanie Zacharek says the movie "is less like a movie than a virus -- one that clings so tenaciously to its host genre that it begins to take on the characteristics of a real movie, even though it's just faking." Female consensus: Been there, seen that
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