Onscreen, there are two places where tough rebels find out what they're really made of: in the boxing ring with an undefeated opponent or in a boot camp where only the best survive. Jake Huard (Franco) is particularly headstrong, so he embarks on his journey of self-discovery in a boxing ring within a boot camp, just to be extra sure. Thanks to this blending of genres, not only do we get to see scenes stolen from every military academy film ever made, but we get to see them interspersed with training montages ripped off from every sports movie ever made.
Since Jake was young, he's dreamed of attending the Naval Academy, just to see if he's got what it takes. But Jake needs to learn the value of teamwork, which is immediately clear since this is the kind of film where one-note characters wear their flaws on their uniform sleeves in place of rank insignia. Eager to correct Jake's character flaw are his teammates, the goodie-two-shoes, the ladies' man and the fat guy who gets hassled for concealing a jelly doughnut in a scene that should have Stanley Kubrick's estate demanding royalties.
To complicate matters, Jake embarrasses himself hitting on Ali (Brewster), only to discover that she's his superior officer. At least he didn't go so far as to sing her "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling." Finally, his drill instructor, Lt. Cole (Gibson), shows up to pick on him because he doesn't think poor Jake has what it takes, and he never misses a melodramatic opportunity to remind everyone that if you don't have what it takes, people could die. But if Jake can beat Cole in the ring in the Brigade Championship, then he'll know once and for all that he does have what it takes because that's how movies like this end.
Will Jake do the academy proud? Will his emotionally distant father watch the fight? Will the movie manage to work in one more reference to An Officer and a Gentleman? The answers are just a short training montage away.