"Playing For Keeps" Trailer

Indiewire article:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-trailer-for-soccer-moms-romance-flick-playing-for-keeps-starring-gerard-butler-jessica-biel-catherine-zeta-jones-20120807


Watch: Gerard Butler Tries To Score With Jessica Biel In Trailer For 'Playing For Keeps'

On the one hand, this is directed by Gabriele Muccino, who helmed the underrated "The Pursuit of Happyness" which earned Will Smith his second Oscar nomination after "Ali." On the other hand this is directed by Gabriele Muccino who helmed the sort of ridiculous "Seven Pounds," also with Will Smith. And thirdly, this is a soccer dramedy.

That's right, Gerard Butler will kick the ball and try to score in the beautiful net that is Jessica Biel in "Playing For Keeps," a movie that seems about as second rate as The Killers aping "Steal Your Heart" by Augusta that powers the trailer. Butler stars as George, a former pro-soccer player and washout, who tries to worm his way back into the good books of his ex-wife by coaching his son's soccer team. But a number of women are on the prowl, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, who also happens to be in a position to revive his career as a sportscaster....what will these beautiful people ever do? Basically, you've seen this movie about fifteen times already, but in case you haven't, the trailer does a good job of pretty much laying out the entire story.

Co-starring Uma Thurman, Dennis Quaid and Judy Greer, "Playing For Keeps" opens on December 7th. Watch below.

Okay, regarding the flashback footage of George playing pro soccer in the trailer-- did anyone else think that they superimposed Gerry's head on another soccer player's body? And it was really poorly done?

It looked really strange (bad) to me.

Poster pic at link:

http://www.ineedmyfix.com/2012/08/07/gooaaall-first-trailer-for-playing-for-keeps-with-gerard-butler/


GOOAAALL! First Trailer for Playing for Keeps with Gerard Butler!


So we finally have a new poster for Playing for Keeps. Thank you Millennium and Film District, that’s much better. It's so much better than the last one that I'm using the teenie weenie version above. Now could we have it bigger? (I know I’m never satisfied.) We also have the first trailer! *demented poodle dance* Gerard Butler (who is also a producer) plays George Dryer, ex-pro footballer, okay soccer player, (how cool is it that George’s old team was Celtic?) and Jessica Biel plays his ex-wife and the mother of his son, Stacie. While this appears much more warm and cuddly than I was initially led to believe when the film was announced back in the Spring of 2011, what with all that talk of randy soccer moms, I should have known what I was in for with the title change. Playing the Field suggests a completely different tone than Playing for Keeps is obviously taking.

Okay so it’s probably as predictable as it appears, but that is beside the point. This movie will be a success if Gabriele Muccino has managed to harness Gerard Butler’s natural charm that has eluded countless directors before him. (It certainly eluded Andy Tennant. How he managed to suck the life out of both Butler and Aniston is beyond me. Watch an interview with the two of them. They have enough chemistry to cure cancer, but it was not in evidence on the screen.).

I can’t make a judgment about Butler and Biel yet because this first trailer focused primarily on George’s relationship with his son. The child actor who plays Lewis, Noah Lomax, is adorable without precocity and his scenes with Butler seem natural and unforced. Indeed, this could end up being G’s most natural performance in a long time and not just because it allows him to use his own Scottish accent. (Although the film gets automatic points for that, I will admit.)

Catherine Zeta Jones and Dennis Quaid seem to be having good, breezy fun. We only get a brief glimpse of Uma Thurman, so I have to wonder if they’re saving her for the next trailer and it’s her character that ends up being much more of a threat to George’s attempt to rebuild his family unit than Zeta Jones’.

A charming, down-on-his luck former soccer star returns home to put his life back together. Looking for a way to rebuild his relationship with his son, he gets roped into coaching the boy's soccer team. But his attempts to finally become an "adult" are met with hilarious challenges from the attractive "soccer moms" who pursue him at every turn.

Playing for Keeps, written by Robbie Fox (So I Married An Axe Murderer) and also starring Judy Greer, James Tupper and Sean O’Bryan will open in the US on December 7 and on 1st February in the UK. You can follow the film on FB (where the images below can be found) and on Twitter @playingforkeeps

Are you talking about the movie, the trailer, or the trailer comments?

Cinema Blend article:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Gerard-Butler-Kicks-His-Love-Life-Gear-Playing-Keeps-Trailer-32376.html


b]Gerard Butler Kicks His Love Life Into Gear In Playing For Keeps [/b]

The way we see it, Gerard Butler has a coin that he flips when it’s time to choose a role. If it lands on one side, he does a bloody action thriller along the lines of 300, RocknRolla, Gamer or Law Abiding Citizens. But if the coin lands on the other side, he does a predictable romantic-comedy along the lines of The Ugly Truth, P.S. I Love You or the upcoming Playing for Keeps, which co-stars Jessica Biel and just dropped its first official trailer:



First, let’s focus on the reasons Keeps might be worth watching. Butler’s not a terrible actor. He just makes terrible choices when it comes to certain roles. But Keeps director Gabriele Muccino made the heartfelt tearjerker The Pursuit of Happyness, so it’s possible that this picture taps into a similar up-by-your-bootstraps mentality and becomes the feel-good movie of the holiday season. (It comes out in December.)

Then again, did you see that trailer? Oy. A former soccer star watching his beautiful ex-wife (Biel) move on? ESPN coincidentally looking for an expert soccer commentator … and knowing the former sportscaster (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who might be able to help Butler get the gig? Yeesh. Too early to wave the white flag?

Look, there’s definitely an audience out there for pre-packaged happiness that seems to be offered up by the likes of Playing for Keeps. And they’ll likely devour this movie with a spoon. But the competition in December includes Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, Judd Apatow’s This is 40 and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. Maybe if all of the above were sold out, we’d give Keeps a spin … but even that’s not a guarantee.

So, he is using his Scottish accent in this. Maybe I knew that and just forgot...not sure.

Anyway, yay! Oh, how I've missed his natural voice. Makes you drop an egg at the purr and growl of it...

But what can I say, I'm still a fan.

Movieline article:


http://movieline.com/2012/08/08/gerard-butler-soccer-playing-for-keeps-jessica-biel/


WATCH: Gerard Butler Coaches Kids, Woos Soccer Moms in Playing For Keeps

It takes about ten seconds to guess how the latest Gerard Butler vehicle Playing for Keeps will most likely end (Is that Jessica Biel as Butler's harried ex, who still looks a bit mooney-eyed for her rascally baby daddy? And she's about to get married to someone else? A classic Rom-Com 101 recipe for love! ) but that won't stop the target demo from swooning come December 7. And let's be real: I will so watch this movie, predictable or not.

It's not that Butler is all that swoon-worthy as a middle-aged loser athlete clinging to his past greatness. (Gross.) It's not that Playing for Keeps, with its groan-worthily on the nose sports-themed title, feels fresh in any way whatsoever. (It doesn't. But how great would it be if this was a remake of the Weinstein-directed 1986 rock 'n' roll hotel comedy of the same name?)

And don't get me started on how Uma Thurman and Catherine Zeta-Jones, both 42 and exactly the same age as Butler, have become Hollywood's go-to cougar-types while the 12-years-younger Jessica Biel is positioned as Butler's fresh-faced leading lady.

Whatever.

I'll go see this Playing for Keeps because it vaguely reminds me of those '90s rom-coms that used to star Michelle Pfeiffer and Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and John Cusack, the kind of movies about grown-ups of a certain age dealing with parenting and careers and their own crippling failings while still falling in love. (Like I said: A vague reminder. Let's just all blow off work and go Netflix One Fine Day, shall we?)

Also, those brief soccer-tot scenes remind me of Ladybugs. And The Big Green. And I kinda want to see Gerard Butler juggle a few balls and shoot a Gatorade bottle off a goalpost with a soccer ball. For that matter, forget Butler: I'd like to see Biel, reportedly a soccer ace in real life, dribble circles around Butler on the pitch. Give me that movie, Hollywood.

Dallas wrote:

Movieline article:

And don't get me started on how Uma Thurman and Catherine Zeta-Jones, both 42 and exactly the same age as Butler, have become Hollywood's go-to cougar-types while the 12-years-younger Jessica Biel is positioned as Butler's fresh-faced leading lady.

Whatever.

Exactly.

Dallas wrote:

Movieline article:


And I kinda want to see Gerard Butler juggle a few balls and shoot a Gatorade bottle off a goalpost with a soccer ball. For that matter, forget Butler: I'd like to see Biel, reportedly a soccer ace in real life, dribble circles around Butler on the pitch. Give me that movie, Hollywood.

Good idea.

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4482154/Gerard-Butlers-football-film-is-just-foul.html

Gerard Butler’s football film is ‘just foul’

MOVIE hunk Gerard Butler was yesterday caught up in a row about his latest flick — after fuming mums claimed it encourages kids to SWEAR.
Parents groups hit out after the Scots actor, who stars as a footie coach in rom-com Playing For Keeps, tells his US under-12s team to “get these w******” .

His foul-mouthed line is then repeated by an 11-year-old in the film.

But furious mum Marita Rutter, from Gravesend, Kent, said: “I was shocked. Maybe the Americans don’t get those swear words, but it is not appropriate for a UK audience. I am sure there are so many better one-liners than that.”

Studio bosses already changed the film’s title from Playing The Field as the phrase is associated with womanisers.

The film — which sees Butler’s character George Dryer starring for Celtic before turning to coaching — will be released in December.