Reviews

If you want to see what Richard Roper thought click on this link to see his video review. Wow.

http://www.richardroeper.com/reviews/playingforkeeps.aspx

Playing for Keeps(2012)
106 min. FilmDistrict. Director: Gabriele Muccino. Cast: Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Dennis Quaid, Noah Lomax.

Another day at the Romantic Comedy Factory:

“Hey, Phil. Coffee?”

“Yes please! But listen, Al, Old Man FilmDistrict is on the warpath: we need to get the assembly line moving pronto.”

“Well, fire up the Random Rom-Com Title Generator, then.”

Beep-boop-boop-boop-beep-beep!

“Here it is: 'Playing for Keeps.’”

“Okay, that’s an easy one: former British soccer star, now a washed-up, unemployed single dad, has moved to Virginia to be close to his ex and their boy.”

“Is the boy doe-eyed and apple-cheeked?”

“Is the Pope Catholic? This isn’t my first day on the job.”

“So the dad coaches the ten-year-old’s soccer team, but keeps screwing things up by accidentally sleeping with soccer moms and disappointing his kid.”

“Really, he’s determined not to lose his family. He’s…playing for keeps.”

“You got it. Pull me down a Gerard Butler and a Jessica Biel, will ya?”

The recession-proof entertainment industry is one of America’s most durable ones, and I know we’re supposed to buy American. But what did P.T. Barnum say? You’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public? Actually, Playing for Keeps is directed by an Italian filmmaker, Gabriele Mucchino; perhaps a language barrier explains his rubber-stamping a tin-eared script by Robbie Fox. It’s all strictly boilerplate. Will they or won’t they get back together? Will a job offer in a different city pull a family apart? Will the audience fall asleep before they find out?

Actually, there’s some mild rooting interest in Butler’s George Dryer getting it together, mostly in the scenes in which the overgrown boy attempts to bond with his son Lewis (Noah Lomax). But Playing for Keeps is entirely undemanding, mostly unrealistic, not at all funny, and curiously disconnected, with supporting characters that are plot functions rather than people.

Mostly, these comprise actresses rounded up to hit on Butler: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Judy Greer, and Uma Thurman (whose character is married to a glad-handing psycho played by Dennis Quaid). Only Greer milks some laughs, but from a stereotypical desperation shtick, whereas her peers get to more confidently do the same thing: throw themselves at Butler. Meanwhile, the down-on-his-luck George basically lucks into a once-in-a-lifetime job offer, presaging a feel-good happy ending that likewise rings false.

It’s almost as if the movie bought into the parenting advice Biel’s Stacie offers George: “You just have to be there.” Actually, there’s a little more to it.

[This review first appeared in Palo Alto Weekly.]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/playing-for-keeps,1209588/critic-review.html

Playing for Keeps

A dreary, dismally unfunny excuse for a romantic comedy, “Playing for Keeps” is an undistinguished, impact-free watch-checker that will soon be vaguely distracting transatlantic travelers who forgot to carry on their iPads.

As featureless and bland as the suburban Louisiana locations standing in for Northern Virginia, this is a movie that adamantly refuses to live up to its title, aiming instead to lure in a few unsuspecting fans of stars Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel, do its damage and -- with any luck -- disappear quickly from theaters with virtually no one knowing that it ever existed.

As a former soccer star roped into coaching his son’s amateur team, Butler turns on his native Scottish brogue and unshaven “charm” in fending off the advances of the various soccer moms who throw themselves at him with libidinous abandon.

The accomplished actresses who can be seen degrading themselves in this thankless pursuit include Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman and Judy Greer, whose turn-on-a-dime performance in “The Descendants” is reduced here to a burlesque shtick. Biel, as the ex-wife for whom Butler’s character holds a blazing torch, is treated with similarly shallow disdain in a film that primarily asks her to look worried, angry, hurt and reluctantly charmed over and over.

Filmed with crepuscular, underlit dimness and sloppy inattention to pesky details like continuity (look for the disappearing baguette, or Thurman suddenly disappearing from a park bleacher), “Playing for Keeps” is all the more shocking for its arrival during a season of such first-rate mainstream entertainment, from “Lincoln” and “Skyfall” to “Silver Linings Playbook.”

This clunky by-the-numbers place-holder serves to remind us all what dreck Hollywood is capable of pawning off on unsuspecting audiences. On the brighter side, it does provide something of a self-contained negative-feedback loop: Seeing “Playing for Keeps” is a crime that is its own punishment.

Contains sexual situations, profanity and a brief intense image.

http://www.planitnorthwest.com/articles/2012/12/04/r_mt8abmwxtaekt7cfimufg/index.xml

Movie review: ‘Playing for Keeps’

Gerard Butler needs to take a hard look at Matthew McConaughey’s career.

Sure, McConaughey has had a great year and may even score an Oscar nomination for his work in “Bernie” or “Magic Mike,” but this renewed success comes after a lost decade where he co-starred in films with Kate Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker. Macho McConaughey trapped himself in the romantic comedy ghetto, and Butler seems doomed to take his place.

Butler’s choices haven’t helped him. He starred with Jennifer Aniston in the awful “Bounty Hunter,” and his second romantic comedy, “Playing for Keeps,” is nearly as bad.

Butler plays George Dryer, a huge soccer star in the 1990s (second only to Beckham, if the movie’s prologue is to be believed) whose career ended when he broke his ankle. Now George drifts along on his looks and charm (the Scottish accent helps), and when those fail, he sells his old jerseys and cleats to sports memorabilia shops.

George harbors two dreams. He wants to become a sportscaster, and he wants to reunite with his ex-wife, Stacie (Jessica Biel), and their 10-year-old son, Lewis (Noah Lomax). He moves to the Virginia town where Stacie lives, only to discover she is about to remarry.

Through the labored mechanics of Robbie Fox’s script, George becomes the coach of Lewis’ youth soccer team. Soon, a bevy of lustful soccer moms (led by Judy Greer, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman) are licking their lips and making unexpected appearances in the guest house he rents from an ethnically stereotyped comic relief landlord (Iqbal Theba).

Two incompatible types of stories work against each other here. “Playing for Keeps” wants to be a sex comedy very much in the mold of Warren Beatty’s classic “Shampoo” (as in, same concept, but with a youth soccer coach instead of a hairdresser). Yet the film also wants to be one of those heartwarming family comedies about an immature dad who learns he must grow up to be a good father. Such movies were in vogue in the mid-1990s, when I believe this script was written, and usually starred Robin Williams or Tim Allen.

Director Gabriele Muccino pretends he can tell both kinds of story in the same film, but it’s impossible. The PG-13 rating kills the potential for the sex comedy even more than the fuzzy-wuzzy requirements of the father and son bonding story. And with George bouncing from one willing partner in the bleachers to the next, we’re not rooting for the sensible Stacie to reconcile with him.

Muccino could have ditched the immature father storyline, because most of those movies are insufferable anyway, and concentrated on the sex farce. A potential for satire exists with George realizing he is coaching youth soccer in Peyton Place (an angle I suspect was lost in the editing suite). Alongside the randy moms, Dennis Quaid appears as a wealthy and overbearing soccer dad who slips George a fat envelope of cash after the first practice and mentions his son really wants to play goalie.

Yet it doesn’t seem that Muccino let comic potential slip away so much as he didn’t see any potential at all. The sex comedy half of the story is just as dumb and unconvincing as the mawkish family half. As the script follows the schedule for plot points laid out in dozens of how-to-write-a-hit-screenplay books, it exudes a soul-sucking phoniness.

Detached from the real world, “Playing” takes place in a universe that exists only in hack Hollywood comedies. This is a universe where 10-year-olds behave like 6-year-olds because all kids are the same according to screenwriting manuals. Children who play youth soccer tend to be interested in the sport. They don’t sign up because their parents or a script require them to. So why is it that none of the young soccer players has heard of George “Second Only to Beckham” Dryer or is excited to have a former star coach the team?

Even the details of speech are wrong. George talks about a restaurant he read about “on the Internet.” People don’t talk like that. They say, “I read about it on Yelp.” Even worse is the moment when Lewis asks his dad to take him “to the arcade.” Do 10-year-olds today know what arcades are? No, Lewis would cite Chuck E. Cheese by name. Given the long list of corporate sponsors in the credits, I’m surprised the producers overlooked these opportunities to place two more products.

Everything in this film is artificial except for Biel’s performance. Her performance is genuine and her character is believable. A fresh performance in a rotten film is always a curious thing. Was Biel the only member of the cast who didn’t see this as an easy paycheck, or did Muccino convince her and her alone “Playing” was a drama?

No one else thought so. Butler hits the required notes of somberness in his sad father mode, but when he fends off the soccer moms’ advances (not always successfully), he mugs like a handsome Don Knotts. Zeta-Jones and Thurman vamp it up mercilessly in these scenes, while Greer goes from sweet to twee in a heartbeat. Zeta-Jones is the only one who doesn’t embarrass herself.

At least “Playing for Keeps” does a service for the late Rodney Dangerfield. His “Ladybugs” is no longer the worst movie about a youth soccer coach.

“Playing for Keeps”
1 star
Rated PG-13 for some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image
Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Who’s in it: Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones
What it’s about: When a down-on-his luck former pro soccer star (Butler) agrees to coach his son’s youth team, the several randy moms on the bleachers (including Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman) decide to make a play for him. This could ruin his chances of reconciling with his ex-wife (Biel).

http://www.blu-ray.com/Playing-for-Keeps/138092/?show=preview

Playing for Keeps Preview 2 out of 10

At this point, I’m positive Gerard Butler selects his scripts by blindfolded dart throw. There’s really no other way to explain why he, and a bevy of capable actresses, could be drawn to such a shallow, predictable hodgepodge of plasticized feelings and sitcom mechanics. “Playing for Keeps” has moments where its intent as a human story of yearning and regret is visible, but it takes a considerable effort to find, forcing ticket buyers to wade through abysmal dialogue and unfortunate performances to locate a few passably endearing moments. The rest of the feature is determined to chase nonsense, with the whole thing so awkwardly orchestrated, I’m surprised director Gabriele Muccino kept his name on the picture.



A Scottish football star throughout the 1990s, George (Gerard Butler) has fallen on hard time, struggling to make a living off his stardom, also relocating to Virginia to be close to son Lewis (Noah Lomax) and ex-wife Stacie (Jessica Biel), who’s about to remarry. Facing mounting debt, George hopes to find his fortune in sportscasting, only to find entry into the vocation difficult. Hoping for a distraction, the former superstar elects to coach Lewis’s soccer team, bringing his knowledge of the game to a throng of suburban kids. His presence on the field also stirs the interest of the local moms, with sadsack Barb (Judy Greer), influential Denise (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and confused Patti (Uma Thurman) hoping to take a bite out of the coach behind closed doors. Interest also emerges from Patti’s husband Carl (Dennis Quaid), a shady businessman who looks for friendship with George, plying him with money and cars. Overwhelmed by the attention and all the fringe benefits, the coach still pines for Stacie, making Lewis anxious as his hope for a parental reconciliation is threatened by George’s temptations.

“Playing for Keeps” is one confused movie. The screenplay by Robbie Fox is all over the map in terms of broad comedy and melodrama, making it difficult to suss out the intent of the piece. Obviously, the picture wants the viewer to sympathize with George, who’s a desperate man without any job prospects, carrying a torch for a woman he once neglected while trying to be a decent, engaged father to his impressionable son. However, George is a character clearly making life difficult for himself, with Muccino (“The Pursuit of Happyness,” “Seven Pounds”) failing to finesse the man’s troubles in a way that keeps the coach reasonably distracted and not just a dim-wit falling into easily avoidable traps. It’s impossible to root for a man who chases stupid mistakes instead of making them naturally.

Female characters don’t fare much better in “Playing for Keeps,” scripted as either earnest angels or hot to trot soccer moms looking to fill a void in their lives with George’s attention. If Fox’s goal was to create a sex farce with the material, he’s fumbled the potential for freewheeling fun by creating such unlikable ladies with severe psychological problems, playing their fragile vulnerability for laughs. Instead of cocktail-hour shenanigans with George and his harem, we’re treated to scenes of emotional distress, including a moment where Patti strips down to her underwear in George’s apartment and manically wonders why he won’t sleep with her. Because nothing’s more hilarious than a clearly unbalanced woman begging for sex. The same icky sensation coats Denise’s subplot, where the tightly-skirted tigress tempts George with an ESPN audition with hopes to bed him along the way.



Between acts of seduction (where Barb breaks down into tears), “Playing for Keeps” also wants to tug at a few heartstrings along the way, focusing on Lewis’s discomfort with the dual custody situation, while Staci struggles with unresolved feelings for George, allowing the smooth-talker (with his exotic Scottish brogue) to wind his way back into her life. Biel is actually somewhat effective in the role, communicating a sense of confusion and trepidation that’s plausible, but a full handle on Staci’s perspective is routinely denied to pursue George’s “Three’s Company” adventures with misunderstandings and near-misses. The third act really lays on the schmaltz to squeeze tears out of the audience, once again confusing the overall tone of “Playing for Keeps,” that is, if you’re still awake to greet the displays of imitation ache.

Clinging to his external appeal, Butler doesn’t provide any soul to “Playing for Keeps,” with Muccino keeping his actor shirtless and unshowered, avoiding the performance for as long as possible. It’s flavorless work that depends greatly on Butler’s sex appeal. Worse is the supporting cast, with Greer and Zeta-Jones floundering in their comedic turns, while Thurman’s role looks as though it’s been shaved down considerably from its original intent. It’s Quaid who trumps everyone with his work here, providing a broad approximation of a wheeler-dealer, stumbling through his lines as though they were being fed to him via earpiece. It’s embarrassing to watch at times.



And for those who delight in the seams of filmmaking, sections of “Playing for Keeps” have been obviously reshot, with Butler’s carefully tousled, oily hair replaced by a rat’s nest wig during scenes between George and Lewis. There’s also moderate use of digital smoothing to keep the actresses fresh and appealing during some wrinkly scenes. It makes the women look like CG-creations at times.

With everything running around “Playing for Keeps,” the production makes room for a Big Game finale, where the soccer kids make a run for the championship. It’s excessive and a calculated attempt to bring a happy ending to an otherwise dreary picture. However, complaining about climatic formula is futile with this effort, which is mummified by hokey dialogue and rampant clichés, generating a tiresome atmosphere of staleness that’s unable to be lifted by the movie’s feeble attempts at hanky panky.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-06/entertainment/sc-mov-1204-playing-for-keeps-20121206_1_jessica-biel-soccer-game-romantic-comedy-stars

Gerard Butler's bad streak continues in 'Playing for Keeps' ?

Some movies are 100 percent polyester, yet the right actors can make the material breathe a little so that the audience wears the experience comfortably for a couple of hours. Opening this month, the Barbra Streisand/Seth Rogen vehicle "The Guilt Trip" belongs to that poly-genre.

And then there's "Playing for Keeps," which is more of a manure-poly blend. The romantic comedy stars Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, a bizarrely twitchy Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Judy Greer. Only Biel and Greer lift it above the level of bleh.

Robbie Fox's script: Onetime Scottish soccer star George Dryer, played by Butler, finds himself down and nearly out and dreaming of a career as a sports broadcaster. He has moved to suburban Virginia (the movie was shot in Shreveport, La., where the tax breaks roam freely) to be close to the preteen son (Noah Lomax) he barely knows.

In various keys of Doormat, Biel does what she can to suggest a real person in the role of George's ex, who's engaged to be remarried. But you never know! Maybe she won't marry that other guy. Maybe she'll get back with the vaguely unsympathetic protagonist.

The second we see George at his son's soccer game, coached by some loser who won't get off his cellphone during practice, we know the score. George will replace him as coach. George will oblige a sexually aggressive and/or insecure soccer mom or two. Eventually George will wise up, put his horndoggery behind him and pursue his ex in earnest in order to make his life whole again.

The women in the film exist to prop up Butler's fabulousness.

"Playing for Keeps" was originally titled "Playing the Field," but it may as well be called "Plowing the Same Old Ground."

The director is Gabriele Muccino, who brought an effective brand of gloss to "The Pursuit of Happyness" but who re-teamed with Will Smith on the risible "Seven Pounds." "Playing for Keeps" is closer to the latter than the former.

Greer, a sparkling presence, offers two amusing throwaway bits involving her sad-sack single-mother character breaking into tears at inopportune moments. Biel's character waits around for her ex to become slightly less of a deadbeat. The film sets a very low bar for its hero's redemption. Butler isn't without talent, but his smarminess is considerable, and to date his most sympathetic screen performance remains the voice of the father in "How to Train Your Dragon."

http://www.celebuzz.com/2012-12-06/playing-for-keeps-gerard-butler-and-jessica-biel-strike-out-in-this-sports-themed-rom-com-movie-review/


‘Playing For Keeps’: Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel Strike Out in this Sports-Themed Rom-Com (MOVIE REVIEW)

There was a time when Gerard Butler could have been a movie star, but then he decided instead to act in films like Playing For Keeps.

The guy who once played the title character in The Phantom of the Opera and King Leonidas in 300 somehow became the go-to-guy in terrible romantic comedies, undermining virtually all of his real charisma and talent in lieu of the fleeting appeal of his gruff manliness and a semi-irresistible Scottish accent.

And like a final nail in the coffin of his “real” acting career, Playing For Keeps unfolds like some kind of metaphorical deconstruction of his charms: a meandering, formulaic look at a former sports star confronted by an uncertain future as he continues to exploit the superficial things the world still seems to want from him.

Butler plays George, a soccer star who moves to Virgina to be close to his ex-wife Stacie (Jessica Biel) and son Lewis (Noah Lomax) after squandering his fortunes. Reduced to selling his trophies and other sports keepsakes in order to make ends meet, George dreams of a job as a sportscaster while keeping an eye on Lewis’ own athletic aspirations.

But after he reluctantly agrees to coach the kid’s soccer team, George finds his prospects improving: not only does he attract the attention of several local women (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman and Judy Greer) looking for an escape from suburban motherhood, but lands a chance to become an ESPN anchor. But when Stacie announces plans to marry her new boyfriend, George is forced to decide whether he will close that chapter of his life and explore a new career path in another city, or stay in the lives of the two people who mean the most to him.

The biggest problem with Playing For Keeps is that it has absolutely no idea what kind of movie it wants to be. Is it a coming-of-age story for 40 year olds? A tender story about a father reconnecting with his son? A romantic portrait of two people who love one another but have trouble finding the right time to make a relationship work? Or a sex farce where an aging charmer regains his mojo de-pantsing all of the soccer moms in a Virginia suburb?

Certainly a movie can contain multiple threads, but they need to be related by something more significant than just the people acting them out. Notwithstanding the fact that even for Gerard Butler, the women in the film improbably throw themselves at him, the various scenes of seduction – or hooking up, which is more accurate – reinforce only one sad theme: all of the characters’ lives are painfully empty. Otherwise, George’s life unfolds in a series of mostly-unrelated vignettes that languish in purposeless self-indulgence, at least until the film decides to pay off his midlife crisis in the most clichéd way possible.

As much as I like Jessica Biel and think the work she’s doing these days – even in this – is really solid, the female roles she’s offered are really just kind of shameful. Stacie exists to remind George throughout the movie that he’s a screwup, and then to be a reflection, and a reward, for his self-improvement. That Biel sheds some convincing tears for a relationship that her character is always better than is a testament to her commitment to the material.

But ultimately, the movie plays just a weird tribute to Gerard Butler as a sex symbol, an unironic celebration of the qualities that helped him retain stardom – and, in the end, an escapist fantasy that suggests his good looks and accent are all he needs. Butler isn’t bad in the film per se, but he contributes nothing but empty verisimilitude, and seems uninterested in seeing the character grow or change.

As a result, so are we, making Playing For Keeps not just a redundant exercise in rom-com wish-fulfillment, but the kind of experience that provokes the exact kind of life-changing epiphany that its characters never enjoy: if we stop watching movies like this, maybe they will stop making them. There’s no reason Gerard Butler shouldn’t have a flourishing career, but it should be with material that challenges him — and hopefully, us as well.

http://www.celebuzz.com/2012-12-06/playing-for-keeps-how-do-critics-score-the-soccer-themed-rom-com/

‘Playing For Keeps’: How Do Critics Score the Soccer-Themed Rom-Com?

Gerard Butler’s latest effort at professionally affording groceries – otherwise known as “acting” – has landed beneath the Christmas tree like a nicely wrapped package of farts. The story of a David Beckham-esque soccer star who coaches his son’s junior team in an effort to repair their damaged relationship, Playing for Keeps bakes up a fresh batch of irony when the manchild is tempted by an utterly unbelievable parade of randy soccer-mom’s.

And if it appears that we weren’t fans of the film, wait until you see the stadium full of critics who dislike this soccer rom-com with all the passion of a Venezuelan referee.

http://www.heritage.com/articles/2012/12/09/opinion/doc50c4d3d73a98e181885911.txt

MOVIE REVIEW: "Playing For Keeps" is Gerard Butler's latest dud

Gerard Butler's mailbox is where scripts rejected by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Brad Pitt and Colin Farrell go to die.

Butler's latest putrefying corpse is "Playing for Keeps," a movie that answers the question: Is it possible for a sex farce and a family drama to be one and the same movie?

The answer is no.

That's the weirdest of many things that happen, or try to happen, in "Playing for Keeps." Butler plays a washed-up soccer star who finds himself in the sack with every woman in the movie (Uma Thurman, Judy Greer, Catherine Zeta-Jones) except his ex-wife (Jessica Biel). For unexplained reasons, Butler has been out of touch with his wife and kid for four years, but he drops back into their lives to coach his kid's soccer team, make awkward passes at his now-affianced ex and have peculiar conversations with Dennis Quaid, who plays a soccer dad who keeps dropping in on and then mysteriously vanishing from the movie.


A few other weird things: "Playing for Keeps" wants us to believe pro soccer has become so wildly popular that pro soccer TV analysts are in huge demand. It asks us to believe that Butler, as the parent of a kid who appears to be about 9, knows so little about parenting that he asks his ex for some basic tips. It asks us to believe that Biel is not beautiful. And it asks us to believe that Biel, Greer, Thurman and Zeta-Jones would be willing to play these misogynistic nonsensical roles. (Unfortunately, evidence supports that last one.)

Contrived and phony from beginning to end, "Playing for Keeps" never does make sense of its characters, who flip and flop from scene to scene. In particular, the Butler and Biel characters change their minds so often about the directions their lives will take that only one thing is for sure: The kid they're supposed to be raising is doomed.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-playing-for-keeps-gerard-butler-20121209,0,3265792.story

'Skyfall' reclaims No. 1 as Gerard Butler suffers another flop

Gerard Butler stars in "Playing for Keeps," which bombed at the box office this weekend. (FilmDistrict)

Hollywood may be giving Gerard Butler a red card after his soccer film's dismal performance at the box office this weekend.

The actor suffered yet another flop with "Playing for Keeps," his romantic comedy that debuted with only $6 million, according to an estimate from distributor FilmDistrict. As the only new film hitting theaters this weekend, the movie was easily defeated by five other flicks that have been in theaters for weeks.

"Skyfall," which hit multiplexes nationwide five weekends ago, reclaimed the No. 1 position. Though the film claimed the top spot the first weekend it was released, the James Bond movie has had to settle for the runner-up position as "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" dominated ticket sales. But the film starring Daniel Craig took in an additional $11 million this weekend, while the final "Twilight" movie collected $9.2 million. "Skyfall" has now sold $261.6 million worth of tickets in North America, making it the highest-grossing Bond film domestically by about $90 million.

Despite the lack of new options, ticket sales were up roughly 10% compared with the same three-day period last year, said Hollywood.com. With only three weekends left until the end of the year, revenue and attendance are both up about 6% compared with 2011.

As for Butler, "Playing for Keeps" marks his fourth bomb in two years. In October, his surfing drama "Chasing Mavericks" drowned with only $5.8 million in receipts. His indie efforts -- the Shakespeare adaptation "Coriolanus" and the religious drama "Machine Gun Preacher" -- also failed to break out, as neither came close to hitting even the $1 million mark.

The movie's opening is an especially bad result for Butler considering its genre -- the actor's romantic comedies have fared well with audiences in the past. Each of the romcoms he's co-starred in, including "The Bounty Hunter," "The Ugly Truth" and "P.S. I Love You," grossed over $50 million apiece.

Unfortunately, it's extremely unlikely for Butler that "Playing for Keeps" will follow that trajectory. At least the few who saw the movie about a former professional athlete who begins coaching his son's soccer team did seem to enjoy it. While the flick received an embarrassing 2% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, moviegoers assigned it an average grade of B+, according to market research firm CinemaScore. The film attracted an older female crowd, as 74% of its audience was over the age of 25.

Financed by Avi Lerner's Millennium Films, "Playing for Keeps" is being distributed in the U.S. by FilmDistrict.

Meanwhile, Open Road Films re-released "End of Watch," a cop drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena. The film grossed only an additional $733,000 this weekend, raising its total to $40 million -- but Open Road insisted the move was not about ticket sales. Instead, the independent distributor is hoping that award voters will now take notice of the movie's well-reviewed performances.

SPOILERS in this review:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/12/09/playing-for-keeps-plot/

'Playing for Keeps': I saw it so you don't have to
by Denise Warner

Playing for Keeps stars Gerard Butler as former professional soccer player George Dryer, who moves to Virgina in order to reconnect with family and becomes the coach of his kid’s soccer team in the process. Thrilling, right? Well, if you want to know whether or not George’s story has a happy ending, you’re in luck because I was one of the few people who saw it, so you don’t have to. Warning: Spoilers ahead. (But really, that’s the whole point of this, no?)

Dryer’s pro career ended with an injury, and now he’s broke and living in Principal Figgins’ (Iqbal Theba) guest-house. (Okay, he has a real name, but I can’t remember it.) At the beginning, we see George making what looks like a crappy audition tape for a sportscaster’s job. He takes the demo to Ben from Grey’s Anatomy (Jason George), who is a local sports anchor. (Okay, I do remember his name — it’s Chip. But only because it’s slightly relevant later on in the film.) Ben from Grey’s Anatomy promises to take a look at the tape. And thus, an important plot device is born.

Trying to repair his relationship with his son Lewis (Noah Lomax) and thus his ex Stacie (Jessica Biel) — whom he walked out on years ago — George takes the boy to his soccer practice. Lewis tells his dad that they never score any goals, and George looks concerned as the coach instructs the kids to kick the ball with their toes. (Even non-soccer people know this is wrong.) At another practice, George gives the kids a few tips and the parents are so thrilled that they immediately want him to be the team’s coach.

Now that he’s in charge, George learns to navigate the very twisted world of soccer parents. Carl (Dennis Quaid) gives him an envelope full of cash to “sponsor” the team — and make sure his son plays goalie and his daughter sings the national anthem. (George ends up using this money to pay his rent.) Carl also throws a party for George, and lets him borrow his Ferrari. (Because apparently, people do that?) In return, George bails Carl out of jail. (Doesn’t everyone get their kids’ coach to post bail?) And George finds out that Carl is a very jealous man, having beat up a guy who hit on his wife.

Meanwhile, soccer moms Denise (Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones), Barb (Judy Greer) and Patty (Oscar nominee Uma Thurman) all vie for George’s attention. Barb gets there first, and they have sex. Denise gets there second, but don’t worry, they still have sex. However, Patty is Carl’s wife. And when she shows up at George’s house, he kicks her out.

As for Lewis, George keeps screwing up. Because he’s juggling Carl, Denise, Barb, and Patty, he’s always late, and he dumps Lewis with Denise’s nanny while the two of them engage in sexual shenanigans. But slowly, he begins to become a better father — and Stacie, who is engaged to Matt (James Tupper), takes notice.

Remember the demo tape? Well it turns out that Ben from Grey’s Anatomy is friends with Denise, a former sports reporter herself. She saw the tape and helps George make a better one, which gets him an audition with ESPN. (I actually found this part the most plausible, since George is supposed to be this world-famous player.) He aces the audition, getting the job. But it means having to move from Virginia to Connecticut. And he doesn’t want to go without Stacie and Lewis. When he’s back from his interview, George finds Stacie at a bridal salon. While she’s in her gown, George makes an impassioned speech, asking her to call off the wedding, and uproot to Bristol with Lewis. She runs out of the salon, but is waiting for him in her car, where she tells him she wants to be with him. They kiss.

But wait, there’s more. At the final soccer game of the year — the one they need to win for the championship — Carl attacks George. See, Carl had Patty followed, and now has photos of her in George’s bed, wearing only her underwear. The kids still win the game, and they spot Carl and George fighting. They think it’s a celebration and all pile on top. When the melee ends, the naughty photos are strewn across the field. Stacie calls it off with George after seeing the pictures.

The day he is set to leave for Connecticut, George arrives at Stacie’s house to say goodbye to his son. He promises that they will talk all the time on the phone. As he drives off, Stacie tears up and Matt asks her if she still loves George. She replies, “I never stopped loving him.”

On his way north, George ends up turning around and driving back to Stacie’s house. He tells Lewis he couldn’t leave because he wants to stay close to him. When Stacie asks if he gave up the job, and he tells her that he did, she reveals she called off the wedding. Yay! They celebrate by playing soccer in the yard.

At the end, it’s revealed that a few months later, the local sports network calls — and George gets a sports show with Ben from Grey’s Anatomy called ‘The Chip & George Show.” And they all lived happily ever after — except, presumably, Carl, Patty and Matt. (Barb ends up with Principal Figgins and I think Denise is still married.)

NEXT PAGE: And now for a few thoughts …

1. George never got in trouble for using the soccer cash to pay his rent.

2. As my colleague Sandra Gonzalez, who graciously offered to accompany me, pointed out: Biel gets mad at him for those photos of Thurman, a woman he didn’t actually sleep with, but nothing ever comes of his dalliances with Zeta-Jones and Greer.

3. I will never have kids if it means having to give up my dream job. Sorry, I’m just that selfish.

4. I will never have kids if it means having to go to all their soccer practices. Games are fine, but practices? No, thank you.

5. Why did Butler keep calling it “soccer”? Isn’t it football to him?

6. In case you were wondering, yes, they did find time to feature a shot of Butler without his shirt.

7. Stacie met George when she was a 23-year-old backpacking around Europe. When I was a 22-year-old backpacking around Europe, I did not meet any hot football players. But then, I don’t look like Jessica Biel.

http://cliqueclack.com/p/playing-for-keeps-gerard-butler/

Gerard Butler isn’t Playing for Keeps with his latest

Gerard Butler produced his latest movie ‘Playing for Keeps.’ I wonder how much money it’ll ultimately end up costing him.

I recently finished picking up and making a huge move across the country. As a result, I haven’t had a television in the longest time. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed it. Not only watching shows and reviewing them, but also just letting my favorites numb out my brain for a little while.

A girl gets awfully tired of thinking deep thoughts sometimes.

Such was the case last night, when I found myself utterly at a loss. Call a friend? Nah. Laundry? Boring. Put together the new bookshelf from Ikea? Yawn.


I decided to take a walk around the old town area of my new little burg to get out the restlessness. It was a perfect night to window shop. A bit chilly, but nothing wrapping a poncho around me couldn’t cure. Several blocks and cute stores later, I was thrilled to see a movie theater just waiting to feed my media starved self. Actors and music and script, oh my! I picked a flick, got some corn and settled in.

Seems I got the title Playing for Keeps completely mixed up with Pitch Perfect.I should mention at this point, that I had no idea I was going to see this particular movie. Seems I got the title Playing for Keeps completely mixed up with Pitch Perfect. (This kind of thing is happening to me frequently these days, I’m not happy to report.) So imagine my chagrin in the opening scenes when Gerard Butler is playing soccer instead of a bunch of funny chicks singing. At first I thought I’d stepped into a sports movie, but hey. I paid my eleven fifty so I was staying. After all, I liked Moneyball, so anything could happen. I wrapped my poncho around me and stretched out. It quickly became apparent that it was a romantic comedy and I was safe.

Or was I?

Playing for Keeps has been done to death. This plot line is as tired as my grandmother, and she’s dead.Playing for Keeps has been done to death. This plot line is as tired as my grandmother, and she’s dead. You know the one I mean … divorced Dad hardly spends time with his son, but then a wacky happenstance causes him to coach his kid’s team and they turn out to win the last game and Dad and Mom get back together. Dad grows up because his son teaches him the importance of unconditional love and blah blah blah!

Along the way, I was surprised at how many stars showed up in supporting roles. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman (who does not miss the chance to show off her fab body in bra and panties) Dennis Quaid (surprise, he plays an unlikable guy!) and Jessica Biel. Musta been the huge paychecks that drew these actors in, cause it sure wasn’t the inane script that was completely uneven and unfunny.

Certain details were never explained (like why didn’t George get busted for taking nine hundred bucks from the team money to pay his rent?) and other scenes strove to be funny but were just plain throwaway. As in Barb (Judy Greer) pursuing Coach George relentlessly and then simply disappearing from the film almost altogether?

However.

I have to acknowledge that there’s something to be said for the Man Candy that is Gerard Butler.I still have a pulse and blood running through my veins, so I have to acknowledge that there’s something to be said for the Man Candy that is Gerard Butler. Although I can’t see why he threw money at this project (if he would have asked me I would have just fed him another grape and told him to keep his cash in his pocket after I let him put his pants back on) I can appreciate why he chose the role. His character turns into a decent guy, so he gets to be the hero at the end. He also gets to lock lips with almost every woman in the film.

And Gerard is really not a bad actor. He has this whole thing to carry on his manly shoulders. He’s in almost every scene … looking very swarthy and adorable even with the high definition showing his eye crinkles. Yep. Without Gerard, this movie would have been much more of a droning bore. He, at least, made it palatable. It’s pretty sad,though, when that’s the only positive thing you can wring out of a film.

http://qctimes.com/entertainment/movies/butler-s-losing-streak-continues/article_7de1a410-42fc-11e2-8f22-0019bb2963f4.html

Butler’s losing streak continues

“Playing for Keeps” is no winner. It’s a lazy, cliché-ridden movie about a father who Needs to Learn an Important Lesson about Life.

Gerard Butler fans needn’t worry: The actor gets to take off his shirt and display his physique. He also flashes his baby blues under a mop of tousled hair, which some viewers may find worth the price of a ticket. Those interested in an original story line should look elsewhere, however.

Butler is George, an ex-soccer star who has divorced his wife Stacie (Jessica Biel) for those obscure reasons that people in romantic comedies who still love each other do. The two have a freckle-faced boy named Lewis (Noah Lomax) who is on a soccer team. Of course, the team sponsor is played by Dennis Quaid as an arrogant millionaire who thinks his money can buy anything. Uma Thurman is his lonely, long-suffering wife (what the heck is Thurman doing in this drivel, anyway?)

Judy Greer is a desperate single mom who barely can restrain herself in George’s presence, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is also on hand as yet another soccer mom who is attracted to George. After the women are introduced into the plot, the movie suddenly changes its tone from a family-friendly show to a French sex comedy (minus, of course, any sizzle). Naturally, Stacie is planning to marry another man.

Inexplicably, this tepid exercise was written by Robbie Fox, who also wrote the enjoyable “So I Married an Axe Murderer.” This has none of the wit of his previous endeavor. In fact, it has little wit whatsoever except for a random and very funny moment in which George and his landlord make comments about how accents seem to attract women.

So many decent — in fact, excellent — movies are in theaters right now that having this forgettable rom-com join prestigious Oscar-bound films such as “Lincoln” and “Argo” seems ludicrous.

It’s certainly not the worst movie of the year, but it’s more suited for release in the wasteland of January than it is during a time of year when studios roll out their highest-quality movies.

Years ago, when a film actor starred in a number of movies that tanked, he became what was known as “box-office poison.” I hope that doesn’t happen to Butler, who deserves better. This is his fifth or six dud, depending on how you’re counting. He needs to be more selective in his next role. He’s playing for keeps now.

http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20121212/ENTERTAINMENT/312120021/Another-Gerard-Butler-film-s-not-keeper-?nclick_check=1

Another Gerard Butler film that's not a 'keeper'

★★☆☆☆

The Butler did it … again. Scottish-born actor Gerard Butler has selected yet another highly suspect script, and neither his charming accent nor his ever Spartan-like physique can lift his latest woebegone rom-com, “Playing for Keeps,” to a memorable level.

That’s really a shame because Butler is a good (if not great) actor, as his role in this year’s critically acclaimed “Coriolanus” or his highly respectable turn as The Phantom suggest. Yet, his catalog is filled with so many losers — “Machine Gun Preacher,” “The Bounty Hunter,” “Gamer,” “The Ugly Truth,” “P.S. I Love You,” “Timeline” — that his better films like “Dear Frankie” and “Nim’s Island” are often overlooked.

At the heart of “Playing for Keeps” are the seeds of a decent film. Iconic international soccer star George (Butler) is now retired. He’s desperate to find a job in broadcasting and moves to a ritzy neighborhood in Virginia to be near 10-year-old Lewis (a supper-cute Noah Lomax), the son from his failed marriage to Stacie (Jessica Biel in dressed-down mode).

When he decides to take charge of his son’s soccer team (Butler’s soccer skills are obviously natural), several team moms start throwing themselves at the hunky coach. “Keeps” gets casting points because seeing the talents of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman and Judy Greer in desperate-housewife mode is entertaining, as is Dennis Quaid’s sleazeball soccer dad. Quaid is so wildly over the top you forget the film has almost no plot whatsoever.

In fact, noteworthy of “Keeps” is that a plot conflict surfaces and is immediately resolved within a few minutes toward the end of the film, perhaps in a brazen attempt to avoid being accused of formulaic convention. Or maybe it is just poor writing.

“Keeps” also manages to completely avoid any discussion of what would seem to be a major plot point. Namely, why did George and Stacie break up in the first place? Could it have been George’s womanizing, which appears to remain fairly intact? Of course, this allows for the all-too-convenient (spoiler alert) unabated reconciliation.
This is unfortunate because in their few, quieter, contemplative scenes together, Butler and Biel offer some of the best, most believable moments of their individual careers. Like everyone in the cast of “Playing for Keeps,” the leads do the best they can with mediocre material, making the film worthwhile for only the most forgiving of audiences.

Rated PG-13 for some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image.

http://www.sedaliademocrat.com/entertainment/article_c7d3648e-4985-11e2-b5e0-0019bb30f31a.html

Pond: Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel star in scrambled soccer-centric rom-com

In the spirit of the last-minute holiday scramble, here’s a father-son heart-tugger wrapped around a mushy reconciliation rom-com sprinkled with the tinsel of shiny Hollywood supporting stars acting like they’re in another movie entirely.

In “Playing For Keeps,” Gerard Butler plays a retired Scottish soccer superstar, “King George” Dryer, now 56 and well past his prime, out of work and living in the Virginia hometown of his ex-wife (Jessica Biel) to be closer to their young son. Seeing his son’s youth soccer team struggling, he reluctantly agrees to become their new coach.

This inspires the kids and thrills their moms, a sexed-up group of assorted minxes who are quite smitten by George’s scruffy brogue, messy hair and buffed body.

The lusty ladies include Catherine Zeta-Jones as a former broadcast personality who’s not above using her connections to get her legs wrapped around George. Uma Thurman is a rich socialite driven to extramarital exploration by her adulterous husband (Dennis Quaid). Judy Greer plays an emotionally needy divorcee prone to teary outbursts and stalking.

All three of these women are fine, credentialed actresses, and it’s depressing to watch them in such one-dimensional parts with one thing on their one-track minds, chasing George and trailing clothes and dignity in the process. It’s supposed to be funny, but there’s something about it that’s just sad.

Meanwhile, there’s the whole “heart” of the story, the question of whether or not George will get back together with his ex-wife, Stacie, who’s planning the final stages of her upcoming wedding to her new beau (James Tupper from TV’s “Revenge” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” in another dismally under-developed part).

Biel fares better than any other female in the movie, thank goodness. At least she gets a backstory, shows some resistance to George’s meathead charm, and has moments that let her draw on emotional depths that the rest of the movie doesn’t even try to reach.

Young Noah Lomax has several TV roles to his credits but makes his movie debut as George and Stacie’s freckle-faced son, Lewis. He has several “awwww” moments, but the real draw of this chick flick is clearly Butler, who makes the women of the audience wait almost three quarters of the way through the movie before he walks out of a bathroom in a towel, showing off his abs.

“Playing For Keeps” has too many characters with too little to do. It doesn’t know whether it wants to be a randy bedroom-hopping romp, a madcap romantic-misunderstanding rumpus, a touching drama about a dad and his son, or a quest for reunited love — all revolving around a soccer ball. And it squanders some upstanding actors and actresses in parts that don’t do them, or their resumes, any favors.

But for people who buy movie tickets based on the prospect of seeing Gerard Butler without a shirt, well, I suppose none of that really matters.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2256928/Playing-For-Keeps-review-Rotten-soccer-romcom-deserves-red-card.html


Rotten soccer romcom deserves a red card: Playing For Keeps scores as first Turkey of the New Year


Verdict: Rubbish

How does Gerard Butler select his scripts? Does he deliberately choose the most misogynistic screenplays in Hollywood? Does he, perhaps, employ mice to sniff out the ones with the cheesiest lines?

Or does he, as one American critic has suggested, make his decisions by blindfolded dart throw?

I’m not sure, but Playing For Keeps is the first turkey of the New Year, and in the long, ignoble tradition of naff romcoms starring Butler, this stands alongside The Ugly Truth and The Bounty Hunter as the worst of its kind.

The elderly comedian Rodney Dangerfield once made a career-ending comedy about coaching a youth soccer team, called Ladybugs. Somehow, Playing For Keeps manages to be worse.

Butler plays a retired soccer player who’s now broke and trying to ingratiate himself with his nine year-old son (Noah Lomax) by managing his football team.

Less than hilariously, this leads to our hero being propositioned by sex-crazed soccer moms, who all look like Hollywood film stars (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Judy Greer and Uma Thurman, amazingly enough).

I guess there are three alternative storylines.

1. Our hero will pass on an embarrassing or possibly fatal sexual disease, and the whole cast will perish horribly.

2. He will enjoy a happy and fulfilling sex life with all those hot women who keep throwing themselves at him, and he’ll learn not to care a jot about his son and wife.

3. He will learn the error of his ways and try to get back together with the woman he loves.

Yes, you’ve guessed correctly. The only surprise is that the role of Ideal Wife isn’t played by Katherine Heigl. Instead, it goes to Jessica Biel. Sadly, it’s no improvement.

Though Ms Biel is always easy on the eye, she acts the whole film as though she’s on anti-depressants and can’t remember where she left the tablets. Because she’s so weak as a character, it’s hard to discern why Butler ever fancied her in the first place.

It’s especially depressing to see Dennis Quaid in a supporting role, as a rich, unfaithful businessman willing to buy his son a place on the kids’ soccer team. Quaid does, at least, seem to realise he’s in a comedy. With Butler, it’s hard to be sure.

For some reason, Quaid barely appears in the second half, and no one seems to mind. Maybe he took time off to reconsider his future. Or perhaps, the producers reckoned he was stealing the movie, which he was. The trouble is that the film is no good without him. The tone varies wildly between sex farce and mawkish romantic melodrama.

Most people will reckon that the wife, however lacklustre, would be much better off without the self-centred idiot ‘hero’, but that thought never seems to have occurred to director Gabriele Muccino (who made The Pursuit Of Happyness and Seven Pounds) or screenwriter Robbie Fox, whose last major credit was So I Married An Axe Murderer, nine years ago.

He may have an even longer wait for his next one. This is Hollywood assembly-line product aimed at the lowest common denominator: a film with rocks for brains and a weird case of attention deficit syndrome.

Butler looks surprisingly good for a man who spent last February in rehab for substance abuse, but he remains ill-suited to romcom, as he lacks any lightness of touch or sensitivity towards the female characters.

His surprisingly strong performance in Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus suggests he is at his best in non-comedic roles as a ‘man’s man’.

He looked a lot more at home in 300, chucking spears and beating people up in a leather loin-cloth.
Maybe he needs to concentrate on tough-guy films. Or take off that blindfold and buy a bigger dartboard

http://www.themoviebit.com/2013/01/playing-for-keeps-review.html

Playing For Keeps Review

Gerard Butler's filmography is a strange one. Action movies and thrillers like 300, Law Abiding Citizen, and Gamer sit oddly alongside romantic comedy such as P.S. I Love You, The Bounty Hunter, and The Ugly Truth. Personally, I think he is strong leading man, with a great presence, but I prefer him him when he firing off guns with abandon, or shouting the name of the place he's currently in. Which makes the fact that I really enjoyed Playing For Keeps, his latest journey down the romantic comedy route, all the more puzzling.

Butler plays George Dryer, a former professional football (soccer, for those of you in America) player who has fallen on hard times. Unemployed, trying to have a meaningful relationship with his son (Noah Lomax), and dealing with the fact that his ex-wife (Jessica Biel) is getting remarried, his life takes a turn for the better when he starts coaching his son's football (soccer) team. But he soon finds he has a long ways to go to get his life back on track.

While Playing For Keeps, from The Pursuit Of Happyness director Gabrielle Muccino won't blow open the romantic comedy genre, but it is an enjoyable enough watch, thanks to an incredibly likable lead performance from Butler. He imbues George with a cheeky sense of humour, even though a shroud of misogyny hangs over proceedings, as he makes his way through the neighbourhoods single moms. His scenes with Lomax are incredibly touching, but sadly the same can't be said for his screen time with Biel, as I didn't feel any chemistry at all between the two. The humour on a whole is nicely judged, especially the scene featuring a surprise early morning phone call from George's friend Carl (Dennis Quaid at his slimy, but woefully underused, best), but the movie is let down, due to a very predictable story, and characters who only exist to move the plot forward. Uma Thurman as Patti, Carl's wife, is a non-character, existing only to present some flimsy third act complications, and Catherine Zeta-Jones may as well have been called Plot Device. Besides Quaid, the only other supporting player to make an impression was the always wonderful Judy Greer (best known for her t.v. work in Arrested Development and Archer) as the emotionally unstable Barb. She has more to do than Thurman and Zeta-Jones combined, and bounces off Butler nicely.

Beat for beat, this is your typical rom-com, slightly elevated by very good performances from Butler and some of the supporting cast. It has it's moments, enough for an enjoyable night at the cinema.

3 Stars