Playing For Keeps

Playing for Keeps is a cutesy romantic movie which is best suited to HBO.

Gerard Butler plays George a football player who was a star in his days but who is now facing bad days. A couple of bad decisions in his life have not only left him poor but also divorced with a ten year old son. He moves to the city where his wife and son stay. He gets cajoled into coaching his son's football team and soon finds himself being courted and seduced by all the soccer moms. One of them finds him a dream job as a newscaster in another city. Will he reconcile with his wife and child or leave and start afresh?

The story is trite, the performances are average and the ending predictable. Recommended only for those madly in love or celebrating their anniversary.

For some women it is enough to know that this film stars Gerard Butler . for them this review ends right here. The Pursuit of Happyness is the only film i have seen of director Gabriele Muccino which i loved immensely but this one makes me forget that both the film are directed by the same guy.

Gerard Butler is a faded football star struggling to be a good husband to his son and trying hard to woo back his separated wife Jessica Biel who is on the verge of marrying another man. the job of a soocer coach changes his life.

the big change the jobs brings is a bunch of desperate housewives acting like teenagers who wants him in bed as soon as possible . the bunch includes Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta Jones & Judy Greer

it almost looks like the director lost his sense of direction by having all these stars on the sets. it neither makes you laugh nor focuses well on the story of a family but is just a collosal waste of stars.

writer Robbie Fox too looks lost in the woods. he couldn't figure out whether to focus on Gerard Butler's sex appeal and write an adult comedy or tell the story of a family coming together.

normally such inane light hearted films works during christmas season but this one doesn't even come close to bringing the joy associated with such movies.

word of mouth - Keep this away . dont think of playing unless you watch every movie that has Gerard Butler in it

rating - 1.5 (Bad)

ticket meter - worth 50 bucks

With a line up like in this movie, one would expect some wow factor but unfortunately this movie was 'tame'.A few laughs here and there and a couple of 'football tricks' was about all one got.

Jessica Biel was the only one who made any impression at all as a young mother. Gerard Butler was not pushed to show any finesse on or off the field. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman were decorative. Dennis Quaid is wasted. Judy Greer extracted a few laughs as a slightly neurotic soccer mother.

The Story : George (Gerard Butler) , a former footballer , is unemployed and divorced. He had relocated to bond with his young son and in the course of events ends up coaching his son's soccer league. His luck turns and he is now popular (really popular !) and could be in line to getting a job in another city. But how will he manage his newly forged realtionship with his son, his feelings for his ex-wife. That is the second half of the story.

Nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing different. A very average movie.

Playing for Keeps is a Rom - Com starring Gerard Butler & Jessica Biel in the lead characters. The sweetie Noah Lomax is their little soccer kid where all the story lies. Director Gabriele Muccino fails this time to survive at the BO. His past HITS ' The Pursuit of Happyness ' and ' Seven Pounds ' along with Will Smith were worth notifying. But this time Robbie Fox ( Writer, So I Married an Axe Murderer ) fails to hand his notion pre-eminently. The film is painfully stereotyped that has a dozy impact on the spectators the minute it flashes. Probably, the film won't pay you correctly for the tickets rather due to its mere low entertainment value and a moulded hot jumble. Playing for Keeps fails to present most likable womens viz. Judy Greer, Uma Thurman and Catherine Zeta Jones wasting their possibilities and abilities showing how happy Butler is, in bed with all the former ladies having Biel as the exception. Butler as in PS I Love You had embraced his acting powers at his best misses this year. George ( Butler ) is a former soccer champion also a divorced ( with Biel ) having their nine year old child ( Noah Lomax ) tries to move closer to his family. He becomes the coach of his son's soccer team to procure his life back on track by sleeping with the mother's of the kids in the soccer team. As usual Stacy ( Biel ) gets closer to George getting familiar incidents to occur and ending with a soppy finale forecasting you to believe in the power of LOVE. Playing for Keeps fails to put in the power into the film as Muccino did in ' The Pursuit of Happyness ' demonstrating his skills at Rom - Com ciné.