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| Courtesy of FilmDistrict |
The
actor can be great with the right material (I’ve often said he’s the best thing
about a lot of terrible movies), but lately he seems to be stuck making lame
chick flicks. His newest is Playing for Keeps, a so-called romantic comedy from
director Gabriele Muccino and screenwriter Robbie Fox. The flick actually plays
more like a drama, though it’s tough to tell if that was a deliberate choice.
As
always, Butler is pretty good. But the rest of the cast’s talent is completely
wasted on the poorly-written material. The characters are so clichéd and one-note
that I wonder why anybody agreed to be in the flick (aside from the paycheck,
of course).
Butler
plays George, a former soccer star who is trying to get his life together and
establish better relationships with his son (Noah Lomax) and ex-wife (Jessica
Biel). He gets his chance when he’s pressured into coaching his son’s soccer
team, but he’s continually thwarted by the intense soccer moms (including Judy
Greer, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman) and absentee dads (Dennis Quaid)
who are far more immature than his preteen players.
Muccino’s
association with Playing for Keeps should have set off alarm bells and
flashing red lights in my brain. His previous effort, Seven Pounds, is one of
the worst movies I’ve seen since I started reviewing them. Still, I gave him
the benefit of the doubt. Bad idea. After a few promising scenes, the flick
deteriorates into a mess of unrealistic characterizations and “farcical” set
pieces that a bad sitcom would consider hackneyed.
Biel
does her best as the weary ex-wife, but the obvious age difference between she
and Butler makes it hard to believe their characters’ previous relationship was
as long-term as the script suggests. Zeta-Jones is okay in her go-to persona,
but she’s barely onscreen long enough to register.
Quaid
and Thurman get virtually nothing to do, so they make up for it by wildly
overacting. Quaid’s practically checking his watch in every scene, and all I
could do was seethe as Thurman – the woman who killed Bill, for crying out
loud! – was reduced to writhing around in a push-up bra and begging Butler’s
character to sleep with her.
But
most of all, I hated this movie because of its treatment of poor Judy Greer.
How many times does this woman have to prove she’s a phenomenal actress (she
deserved an Oscar nomination for her work in The Descendants) before
Hollywood stops relegating her to stock roles like the best friend or the sad,
homely girl? Seriously, do a Google image search and then tell me in what world
she’s unattractive. That may sound like an arbitrary issue, but it was honestly
the point in the flick when I threw my hands up and said I was done.
Playing for Keeps is rated
PG-13 for some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image.
Grade:
D+
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