Because the plot of “Gridiron Gang” in its basic form has already been filmed several times in the past couple of years (“Coach Carter,” “Take the Lead,” even “The Longest Yard”), it’s much more interesting and fun to set aside the debate on the finer points of its filmmaking and just rip into the casting of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Sean Porter, a juvenile dentention camp counselor who fashions a football team out of hostile, violent teens. (The real-life Sean Porter was the subject of a 1993 documentary with the same title.)

After successful careers in college football and then pro wrestling, Johnson desperately wants to become an actor. You can feel the earnestness in every line he delivers, every pose he consciously strikes. I’m quite sure he goes home with his script every night and practices in front of a mirror, thinking, “How would a real actor say this?”

Johnson’s problem is that he tries too darn hard. Good actors are the ones who don’t look like they’re acting. The one moment in “Gridiron Gang” that approaches a natural performance is Johnson’s halftime speech at the team’s first real game. It’s more of a screaming rant than a speech, actually, and made me think he should be wearing colorful tights and brandishing a big shiny belt.

Before the football idea pops into his head, Johnson’s character is presented as a dedicated youth corrections officer at Camp Kilpatrick. He’s growing disillusioned, though, that 75 percent of the teenage boys who come through the camp end up back in jail shortly after their release. He even articulates this to his colleague and assistant, played by MTV rap star and reality show host Xzibit (who does a stellar job of acting naturally and has a very big future in Hollywood, if you ask me).

Here’s an illustration of how most of the dialogue goes, in case you’re undecided about seeing this film:

Xzibit: “That kid’s always smiling.”

Johnson (grimly): “Was he smiling when he stabbed that old lady for her purse?”

Typically, in a team sports movie, the screenplay spends about half the time putting together the team and focusing on their inability to get along or learn the skills before it moves on to The Big Game. “Gridiron Gang” skimps just a little on the team building but a whole lot on the red tape involved in convincing the local authorities to let a team made up of criminals compete against regular high schools. Much ado is made about Johnson having only four weeks to get his boys ready for the season. But that’s not as preposterous as getting all the rival students, parents, coaches, school boards and the like to sign on to the idea in that amount of time.

Then there’s not only one Big Game, but four, with every one crucial to the team’s existence. Thankfully, director Phil Joanou lets the action on the field carry the story during the games and keeps Johnson on the sidelines. This is definitely a football movie, and viewers who aren’t avid fans of the game may lose track of which player does what and why.

The young actors portraying the wayward teens are generally convincing, especially Jade Yorker as Willie Weathers, the conflicted gangster with star running back potential. And writer Jeff Maguire’s street dialogue only wavers a few times – most noticeably so when oversized inmate Jamal Mixon can barely wheeze his line, “But Coach, I don’t fulfill the physical requirements.”

In spite of Johnson’s self-conscious performance and a few gaping holes in believability, “Gridiron Gang” succeeds in getting its message out in a way that seriously speaks to young people. The film doesn’t glamorize gang life, but it does recognize that gangs provide a support system for kids who have nothing else positive going for them.

We’re treated to clips of Porter and the real kids he worked with in scenes that were recreated line for line in the fictionalized version during the ending credits. Since the 1993 “Gridiron Gang” was made, documentaries have come into their own as a mainstream movie genre. Rather than spending the millions of dollars to pay Johnson’s salary, I wish Sony Pictures would have rereleased the original.