Perhaps if Friday Night Lights was the first high school football story to come to the big screen, it would be one of the best. Even though the film does sport some superb performances and tackles gritty realism with gusto, it isn't the first to do that--far from it.
Even with an appealing Paul Bettany on the back line, Wimbledon's cross-court love match mostly fumbles along rather than running up to the net for the kill shot. (How about that for a bunch of tennis clichés?)
While sporadically hilarious, Without a Paddle is a regurgitation of every fish-out-of-water comedy since 1987. Even still, it would make for a funny and frequent rental, if the audience it was intended for wasn't nearing 40 years old.