Annapolis

This is about as hokey as things can get at the movies. Jake (James Franco), a riveter who works in a shipyard within eyeshot of Annapolis Naval Academy, longs to be a Naval officer (echoes of Jennifer Beals in Flashdance). His grades are crap, but he’s devilishly handsome. His persistence gets him a berth, much to the chagrin of his riveter father, who’d rather he perform his welds with less bubbles in them. Jake joins a freshman class that includes a mass of stereotypes: the fat guy who hides snack foods, the serially straight laced Asian guy who turns in his mates for lying, the rebellious Hispanic guy, etc. They all get their asses kicked by Cole (Tyrese Gibson), the new millennium’s answer to Louis Gossett Jr. from An Officer and a Gentleman. All things lead to a boxing tournament called the Brigade, making this more of a boxing movie than an in-depth look at the life of a cadet. A waste of time.