Playing for Keeps (2012)

Gerard Butler plays George, a former soccer star who now finds himself on hard times apparently from squandering his resources. He finds himself living in Virginia so he can be close to his estranged son, Lewis (Noah Lomax) and ex-wife, Stacie (Jessica Biel). When George begins coaching his son's soccer team, it isn't long before all the hot soccer moms start noticing him. I thought this was supposed to be a romantic comedy but I have to tell you, I barely chuckled twice. Playing for Keeps offers a star-studded supporting cast, including, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Judy Greer and Dennis Quaid; but, surprisingly, I found the funniest character out of the bunch to be George's nosy landlord, Pramam, played by actor Iqbal Theba. Such fantastic actors but sadly the director simply did not utilize their talent to the fullest. This movie really had so much more potential. I really enjoyed the cinematography although the lighting a bit dim for me. The location was very beautiful. The first 30-45 minutes was entirely too slow for even my liking. At some point after that, it finally started to pick up but for lack of a better description, it simply felt very flat to me. I wanted to like this movie and I wanted to like the characters even more, but it just never happened for me. Granted, Gerry and Jessica are beautiful actors but the chemistry between then was lacking. Again, just didn't feel it. More laughs, humor and spirit would have been a pleasant and satisfying consolation, but one that never came.

Fmovies: The fact that Playing For Keeps received such poor reviews doesn't surprise me because movie critics are some of the most closed minded individuals on the planet and this movie doesn't fit into one of their predetermined little genres. It is too raunchy to be a family movie, doesn't focus on relationships or drama enough to be a romantic-comedy, doesn't involved enough soccer to be a sports movie, and doesn't have the proper type of humor to be dude movie. What it is, however, is just an all-around decent film. There's nothing great about it but it does everything pretty good. The cast is great, though they are a bit underwhelming and underutilized in the film, and they provide solid performances, albeit a bit cliché. The plot is decent enough to keep you engaged. Is it predictable? Of course it is but so are 99% of movies made nowadays so that's nothing new. All in all, I think most open-minded viewers will enjoy this as a pretty good all-around movie, nothing more, nothing less.

It is another good movie from Italian director Gabriele Muccino who gave great English-language movies like " The Pursuit of Happiness " and "Seven Pounds " in addition to some great Italian movies..

Gerard Butler is always handsome In this movie he has done some good acting too.. as a failed man, a good soccer ex-player and coach and news-caster, a husband who is still in love with his ex-wife, a charming man found irresistible by ladies, who are equally irresistible ( Catherine Zeta_Jones and Uma Thurman )--and above all a loving, caring ,trying father..

I have always found Jessica Beil attractive.. she has played the emotional role very effectively..

I feel both Gerard Butler and Jessica Beil are underrated, as is the movie.. Ignore the rating for 100 min and enjoy the romantic movie, which has interesting turns and twists ..

You will love it..

Playing for Keeps fmovies. OK, so it's a showcase for Gerard Butler's charm and good looks. That's why I went in the first place. But he can act and it was an entertaining couple of hours. It's a formula movie, romantic-comedy, that worked for me. You got to go expecting to see an age-old story - but with different actors and a different storyline. Jessica Biel is a beauty...have always liked her and she's a good actress. These two have a chemistry that is not overbearing but sweet and easy to watch. The young actor who plays the son is adorable and pretty good. What I found interesting is stars like Catherine Zeta-Jone, Uma Thurmon and Dennis Quaid playing such quirky characters. While they did a good job, I didn't really like watching them play these types of people. For some reason it took away from the movie rather than added to it, for me. But all in all, I enjoyed the movie, got teary-eyed because I could relate to having a relationship with this type of man and left wishing Gerard Butler was playing the Jack Reacher part. I think he'd be a good action hero-type.

I was very much looking forward to seeing this movie because of the stars and supporting roles, as well. I was heartily disappointed. I like Gerard Butler, and enjoyed him in the movie, but the movie was incredibly slow even for me, someone who is not into action movies. But there was too little here. Too many talented women making fools of themselves, and Dennis Quaid was thoroughly wasted as a philandering husband jealous of his wife. Outside of the main characters, all of the roles were flat and without much personality. Butler isn't the only actor who made a mistake to accept this script. Butler and Biel were the only ones with anything to work with, and they did their best, but the script was simply a failure. This was not even good enough for TV, let alone a motion picture. Save your time and money and watch something else! This is one case in which the critics were right. No wonder this was a box office flop.

Romantic comedy. Say it with me. Romantic comedy. Former star athlete, broken marriage, cute kid. Lots of sexual tension. I wanted to laugh at the many of what I thought were funny lines, but I wasn't feeling it from the rest of the audience. Although the movie was entertaining, there was something lacking in the script that made this all-star cast of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, Dennis Quaid and Judy Greer seem more satirical in their overstated roles. Jessica Biel was the stable force playing the the former wife of the soccer great. Gerard Butler was believable as the former star now struggling to find his spot in a second career after sports.

Overall I thought it was enjoyable. The movie did not drag and had some great feel good moments. However I thought I was watching a made for TV movie. The story was very predictable as are most of your romantic comedies.