Review: Best to Skip 'Playing For Keeps'


Last Modified: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 6:56 p.m.

The movie "Playing for Keeps" is formulaic, romantic comedy dreck that manages to be neither romantic nor comedic. It has no real plot, no real conflict, a wet Kleenex of a story, and the dullest dialogue I've heard since I accidentally channel surfed onto an episode of "The Hills."

Gerard Butler is George Dryer, a washed-up and broke soccer star who begins coaching his son's soccer team. Oh, and his ex-wife is getting remarried and maybe thinks he isn't spending enough time with the kid. The ex-wife is Jessica Biel, who I guess is a famous actress. Her insipid acting matches the film perfectly.

Now that there's a sexy ex-professional soccer star coaching the kiddie team, would you look at that? Every emotionally unstable, predatory female stereotype in town wants to bend it like Beckham. There's Catherine Zeta-Jones, the Cold Career Woman; Judy Greer, the Emotional Wreck; and Uma Thurman, the Silly Blonde, who is better than this.

Leaving the theater, my companion said to me, "We should have seen the torture porn movie." I said, "I thought we did."

This film earned at 1/2 Star (out of 4)

Natalie Ballard, 31, Lakeland


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