H H 1/2

PG (for language), 94 minutes. Through tonight only at Westbrook cinemas. Still playing at Lisbon cinemas.

Ice Cube's inevitable, uplifting sports bioflick is here. It's not as dopey as the gangsta rapper's family comedies. But it is formulaic, which is kind of a shame since Jasmine Plummer's story is a pretty unusual one. Played very well here by “Akeelah and the Bee's” Keke Palmer, the middle-schooler was the first girl quarterback to take her team to the Pop Warner Superbowl. In the film, she's a sullen bookworm with a long-gone daddy and no friends. When her mom (Tasha Smith) takes an extra shift at the diner in their economically depressed little town, Jasmine's unemployed uncle Curtis (Cube) is roped into hanging with the girl after school. Once Curtis, a former high-school gridiron star, discovers that his no-good brother at least gave Jasmine his excellent arm,t's just a matter of waiting out the clock until the redemption express picks up has-been, phenom and the whole blessed town.

- Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News

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