Playing for Keeps
http://playingforkeepsmovie.com/
The early comic scenes with the soccer moms are the movie’s most promising, but the picture quickly drops the sexual byplay for more dreary scenes of father-son bonding and domestic turmoil. Like many movies these days, the film has half a dozen producers (including Jonathan Mostow, a formidable director in his own right), and the script was probably emasculated by too many interfering hands trying to juggle all the disparate themes. George’s character would have been far more interesting if he were a little more jazzed by all the female attention, but in a misguided effort to win sympathy for him, he’s totally passive as the women throw themselves at him and practically tear his clothes off. Since womanizing was what ruined George’s marriage, it would have been more honest to acknowledge a randier side to his character.
Another drawback of this wavering tone is that most of the actors are stranded with one-note characters to play. Greer and Zeta-Jones are still fun to watch. Zeta-Jones in particular gives a delectable performance as a sexy minx who dangles her connections with ESPN to charm George out of his pants. But Thurman’s role is completely underdeveloped. In one scene she’s the imperious hostess at a neighborhood party, and in the next she’s a panting sex fiend who turns up in George’s guest house in black bra and panties. Most of the supporting players in this movie have way too little to do. Dennis Quaid brings flair to his early scenes as the cocky community big shot, but when he bewilderingly ends up in jail after a scene clearly left on the cutting-room floor, he virtually vanishes from the movie. The worst victim of this wobbly script is James Tupper as Stacie’s fiancé. He stands in the background looking supportive and barely gets to utter a line, so there’s no suspense about which man will ultimately win Stacie’s affections. Even Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth or His Girl Friday had more personality when he played the other man waiting to be dumped.
I came, I sat, I watched and... well that's about it.
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.
The early comic scenes with the soccer moms are the movie’s most promising, but the picture quickly drops the sexual byplay for more dreary scenes of father-son bonding and domestic turmoil. Like many movies these days, the film has half a dozen producers (including Jonathan Mostow, a formidable director in his own right), and the script was probably emasculated by too many interfering hands trying to juggle all the disparate themes. George’s character would have been far more interesting if he were a little more jazzed by all the female attention, but in a misguided effort to win sympathy for him, he’s totally passive as the women throw themselves at him and practically tear his clothes off. Since womanizing was what ruined George’s marriage, it would have been more honest to acknowledge a randier side to his character.
Another drawback of this wavering tone is that most of the actors are stranded with one-note characters to play. Greer and Zeta-Jones are still fun to watch. Zeta-Jones in particular gives a delectable performance as a sexy minx who dangles her connections with ESPN to charm George out of his pants. But Thurman’s role is completely underdeveloped. In one scene she’s the imperious hostess at a neighborhood party, and in the next she’s a panting sex fiend who turns up in George’s guest house in black bra and panties. Most of the supporting players in this movie have way too little to do. Dennis Quaid brings flair to his early scenes as the cocky community big shot, but when he bewilderingly ends up in jail after a scene clearly left on the cutting-room floor, he virtually vanishes from the movie. The worst victim of this wobbly script is James Tupper as Stacie’s fiancé. He stands in the background looking supportive and barely gets to utter a line, so there’s no suspense about which man will ultimately win Stacie’s affections. Even Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth or His Girl Friday had more personality when he played the other man waiting to be dumped.
I came, I sat, I watched and... well that's about it.
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.
As a movie, it's not much. But it's the best showcase for
his charm that Butler has ever had.
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