00675 – ANNAPOLIS

MovieHype00675 – ANNAPOLIS

Annapolis is the United States Naval Academy, where young men and women go to school who want to be officers in the Marines or Navy.

ANNAPOLIS is a movie about the freshman year, known as the plebe year, at the Naval Academy. The plot is serviceable but without any surprises whatsoever. Then again, if you see a movie like ANNAPOLIS, you pretty much know what you're going to get, and that's the way you want it.

The most intriguing part for me was trying to figure out where I'd seen these people before. (Donnie Wahlberg and Chi McBride show up for parts so small they basically amount to cameos. Makes me wonder why they bothered.)

James Franco (Freaks and Geeks) is the main character, and while a likable actor, he smiles way too much for the brooding hero with the weight of the world on him. His best friend is played by Vicellous Shannon (Clark's best friend in Smallville); my dad and I thought he did the best acting.

Jordana Brewster shows up as an upperclassman instructor. Several years ago (after THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) I predicted she'd be the next "It" Girl. I was way off about that, but at least I was right about how hot she would become. (Arguably the second best looking brunette on the planet, which is saying something.) Tyrese Gibson rounds out the cast as the Louis Gossett role, and to say he pales in comparison is an understatement, although that's not a slam against him.

I've only spent 250 words on this movie, but that's pretty much all I need. If you like military-minded movies ANNAPOLIS will be a perfectly innocuous way to spend 90 minutes. (There are quite a few questionable things, like the women training right alongside the men, with the same standards, but if anything military people will enjoy laughing at what they get wrong.) Like I said, what you see is what you get.