Odds are, a sports movie that opens with a Jim Croce ballad ("I've Got a Name") won't be totally feel-good. Indeed, while Invincible eventually lifts spirits, it's a fairly brooding drama chronicling the gridiron exploits of Vince Papale, a South Philly native who walked on to the struggling Eagles in 1976 and became the soul of the team.

Only a diehard Eagles fan (are there any other kind?) would select it as one of their all-time fantasy films, yet it effectively gets to the heart what it means to be a sports fan. The mid-1970s was evidently a bleak period in the City of Brotherly Love, and despite sepia-toned cinematography this scrappy combination of Rocky, Rudy and Cinderella Man isn't a nostalgic look back at a better time.

With Philadelphia's working-class citizens experiencing economic hardship and the ball club in a major funk, along comes first-year coach Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear) fresh off a Rose Bowl win with UCLA. Desperate to revive faith in the ailing franchise by energizing the community, he decides to hold open tryouts. Thirty-year-old Vince (Mark Wahlberg) is bartending at a neighborhood tavern, having been dumped by his wife and laid off from his substitute-teaching gig. His buddies urge him to give it a shot. With one year of high school football under his belt, the forlorn, over-the-hill but fast jock miraculously makes the team as a wide receiver and Special Teams player.

Invincible is about confronting the fear of failure, as Papale's father (Kevin Conway) pointedly reminds him the night before the tryout stunt. Though there are some bone-crunching hits, it isn't a football primer, nor is their much levity. What saves the familiar playbook from being a generic underdog story are its melancholy protagonist and milieu, plus what it says about the role of sports in average American's lives.

It's no secret we take our pro sports seriously, the NFL most of all, and that Philadelphia rooters are among the rowdiest and most demanding. Vince's father admits that one touchdown back in the late forties got him through decades working at the Westinghouse factory as well as his wife's prolonged illness. So while the economic circumstances seem a tad exaggerated, the community's obsession isn't. The link between Philly fans' ornery edge and their socio-economic status puts an interesting spin on the proceedings.

The climax happens on the big stage at Veteran's Stadium during the 1976 home opener; the movie's emotional peak is a neighborhood tackle game, played in the rain, in which Vince proves his fidelity to his neighborhood friends and his roots. With the help of a soundtrack that insistently establishes mood and dictates what the audience should be feeling, first-time director Ericson Core -- who also shot the movie -- ekes out every yard of grandeur.

The production details are top notch. A little more connective tissue concerning Vince's relationship with his pals would strengthen the picture. Playing a character with the weight of South Philly on his shoulders, Wahlberg is quite subdued and completely believable. If he showed more charisma or the script offered him more opportunities to display fire in the belly, Invincible might lose some authenticity. The only thing Eagles fans could be ruffled by is Vince's affection for a New York Giants booster (Elizabeth Banks). His fate is intertwined with Vermeil's and the emotional coach comes off as rather bland, partly to put more focus on the hometown hero and partly due to Kinnear's workmanlike performance.

The story ends early in the '76 season and we learn through titles that Papale played for two more years. How much playing time he saw isn't revealed, but he wasn't a member of the 1980-81 squad that Vermeil took to the Super Bowl. Like Invincible, that was an impressive accomplishment, even though the Eagles lost the championship game. 

(Released by Walt Disney Pictures and rated "PG" for some mild rude humor.)