The Game Plan Tackles Food Allergies

Add The Game Plan to the list of movies that use food allergies as a plot point.

The Disney movie, which topped the box office this weekend, stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a football star who gets a visit by a daughter he never knew he had, played by Madison Pettis (pictured), the young actress who portrays the president's (incredibly annoying) daughter on the Disney Channel series Corey in the House. If you haven't seen the movie and want to be surprised ... well, if you want to be surprised, this is probably the wrong movie to go to, because if you've ever watched a "child intrudes on adult's lifestyle" movie before you pretty much know exactly how this is going to go. But I'm going to reveal plot points in this post, so read at your own risk.

Early in the film, there's a silly bit where Johnson has an allergic reaction to the cinnamon in a cookie, which apparently causes his tongue to swell so that he lisps ridiculously. At this point, his little daughter sort of casually says, "I'm allergic to nuts." There's a rule that if you show a gun in the first act, it has to go off by the third, and the same seems to be true now of allergies. You hear the kid say she's allergic to nuts, you gotta bet she's going to eat a nut at some significant turn of plot.

And sure enough, that point comes at a restaurant when Dad finally finds out that Daughter was not in fact sent to him by her mother, but snuck off on her own because she wanted to meet him. He gets all blustery; she takes a bite of her dessert, and starts choking. He assumes she's faking for sympathy, but her ballet teacher, who's lunching with them, realizes that she's really in distress, and asks, "Are you allergic to anything?" And we know, indeed she is.

When he realizes that his little girl could die, Quarterback Pop scoops her up like a football and runs to the hospital rather than waiting for an ambulance (parents, don't try this at home). It's a close call, but she recovers. Still, the close call is enough to raise questions about the dad's suitability to raise a child, and sets up a final loss-and-redemption sequence that you have seen a million times, or you have not been watching enough kiddie films.

I'm curious to know what parents who have experience with food allergies, and have seen the film, thought of this storyline? Were you surprised to see it? Did it upset your kids? Do you think the depiction was appropriate? I was glad they made an allergic reaction look serious; on the other hand, this kid is clever enough to change the destination of a hired car to take her to her father, and to stay where she's not wanted through a series of canny manipulations, but she doesn't keep an epinephrine auto-injector close at hand? What's up with that?