Playing for Keeps

I’m not going to claim that Playing for Keeps is some kind of cinematic gold. It really brings nothing new to an audience who has seen Gerard Butler’s career choices go from action royalty to rom-com regular. But it does work to avoid all of those expected romantic elements until it falls into its own trap. Butler plays a retired professional soccer star, who lives in Virginia to be close to his son and ex-wife (Jessica Biel). But since he’s down on his luck in his post playing career, he has the time to coach his son’s youth soccer team. Then the audience is thrust into this “Desperate Housewives” like struggle, where Butler’s character must fight off the advances of many local mothers played by overqualified actresses (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, Judy Greer) and one father (Dennis Quaid), who is looking for a weird, non-sexual, friendship. Did I mention that the lead has unresolved feelings for his ex? Of course he does.

The described elements work well enough in context except for the fact that the audience never really gets a true sense of what kind of man Butler is playing. He succumbs to some of the female advances, but turns away others. He pursues a job that would move him away from his family, yet there is the impression that he passed on previous opportunities to be close to them. As for the impressive names that make up the supporting cast, all are flat, relatively uninteresting characters that could be played by any number of lesser, or cheaper, actors.

I list these weaknesses in Playing for Keeps with a complete understanding that the film is meant as a fun date night film that will likely have a very successful career playing on cable television. There is a balance of laughs, cringe worthy moments and rewards that put it on par with similarly appealing movies. There is just a large sense that the funny parts are meant to be funnier and the cringing is meant to be worse.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.