Annoying they took so many liberties with the truth

Rating: 2/10 (6 October 2007)

Vince Papale was a SUBSTITUTE teacher at my high school (and his), which is not, and has never been, in South Philadelphia. South Philly has had many famous people come from it; my town has one: Vince Papale. Was it so hard to give us that? They gloss over his pre-Eagles life, but I guess it couldn't be an inspirational feel-good movie if they had stuck to the truth, i.e. he came from the suburbs, he had a career as a professional football player before he played for the Eagles, etc.
But part of the appeal is that it's supposed to be "true to life." With this many liberties with the truth, I can't suspend my disbelief enough to get into this movie.
They managed to snip everything that was interesting to me and turn it into another clichéd "underdog struggles against odds to become accomplished person." Nice, but not particularly novel and using the truth might have made for a more complex and nuanced story.
Well, they did the same thing with REMEMBER THE TITANS, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But we're seen the movie before, so if you liked RUDY or movies like that, this is pretty much the same thing. OK if you want the same old, same old.