Playing for keeps - Recensioni

Bè, almeno qui non danno la colpa a Gerry

Altre due recensioni negative uffa!

Gerard Butler nets another loser with 'Playing for Keeps'

Gerard Butler's oddly unsatisfying film career takes another unfortunate turn with "Playing for Keeps," a sexualized romantic comedy built around kids' soccer.

"Keeps" has Butler dialing down his swagger and charisma when the whole movie is reliant on both. As a divorced ex-jock who needs to grow up and be a father to his kid, this guy should be all testosterone, wallowing in past glory and the sexual conquests that made him a soccer legend and, we're led to believe, ended his marriage.

But whatever edge George Dryer had in Robbie Fox's script, Butler has rubbed off. He's at his most charming, pandering to his female fan base. More's the pity, because that base is shrinking by the hour.

George is a Scot whose playing days are over. Broke and longing for a shot at a TV sportscasting career, he's moved to northern Virginia where his ex (Jessica Biel) and their son (Noah Lomax) live.

The kid's into soccer because, as George notes, "It's in your blood." He and his team just need proper coaching, something the cell phone dads of suburban Washington can't provide. So, George takes over.

That's when the soccer moms come around. Some are single, some aren't. Barb (Judy Greer) breaks into tears every time she questions the coach about her son, but throws herself at the guy. So does vivacious manhunter Denise (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Dennis Quaid is a rich backslapper who uses George's celebrity to impress clients, but whose neglected wife (Uma Thurman) could use a little Scotch -- or a strapping Scot.

Meanwhile, George makes a heartfelt, sentimental play for the ex-wife, who is about to remarry and isn't hearing it.

All the kids on the set, long game sequences and the star's determination to play safe and sweet rob "Keeps" of its potential.

A swaggering ex-jock who needs to get over his womanizing isn't the passive, put-upon sexual patsy that Butler plays here -- helpless in the presence of a beautiful woman. This is a new "Kicking & Screaming," but without Will Ferrell. Even he wouldn't go to see this.

www.goerie.com/article/20121206/ENT...-for-Keeps'

Review: 'Playing for Keeps' one of year's worst
By CHRISTY LEMIRE, AP Movie Critic

This is supposed to be the time of year when high-quality movies come out, whether they're potential Oscar contenders or crowd-pleasing family fare.
So the presence of flat, hacky, unfunny dreck like "Playing for Keeps" — the kind of film that ordinarily tries to fly under the radar in January or February but would be torture to sit through in any month — is a total mystery.
It is truly baffling that all the talented, acclaimed actors involved actually read this script and then agreed to devote their time to this movie, especially given its uncomfortably flagrant misogynistic streak. Judy Greer, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman couldn't possibly need work this badly. And yet, here they are as soccer moms shamelessly throwing themselves at Gerard Butler and his tousled, manly mane.

The Scottish hunk, still struggling with comedy following "The Ugly Truth" and "The Bounty Hunter," stars as George Dryer, a once-great soccer star who's now divorced and in financial straits. At the film's start, he has moved to suburban Virginia to reconnect with his ex-wife, Stacie (Jessica Biel), and their young son, Lewis (Noah Lomax). Naturally, a couple of things happen pretty quickly, accompanied by an intrusively jaunty score. First, George gets suckered into coaching his kid's soccer team. Then, the mothers of all the other 9-year-olds start brazenly hitting on him, regardless of whether they're married or single. They're just so wildly hormonal, they can't control themselves.
Director Gabriele Muccino, who's had mixed results with Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Seven Pounds," veers awkwardly between wacky hijinks and facile sentimentality, and Robbie Fox's script doesn't feature a single character who resembles an actual human being. George is weirdly indifferent in the face of all this attention, the low point of which finds Thurman as a married socialite sneaking into his bed in a black bra and panties to seduce him in the middle of the night.

Then there's Greer, usually a standout comedian who can do nothing with her flimsy role as a needy, stalky divorcee. Zeta-Jones at least has the benefit of looking stylish and sultry as the former TV personality who uses her connections to woo him. But George doesn't seem interested in any of these people, so why should we be?
(Ah yes, there's a whole subplot in which George aspires to be a sports anchor and magically gets a job offer as a soccer analyst on ESPN, despite having zero on-air experience, after just one audition. Because there's a bounty of TV gigs out there just ripe for the picking. Do you think he'll leave this family, just as he's started to bond with them again, and move to Bristol, Conn., to take it???)
The men don't fare much better. Dennis Quaid is singularly manic and skeevy as Thurman's husband, a flashy high roller with a wicked jealous streak. And Stacie's personality-free fiance (James Tupper) apparently has no job, friends or interests, but rather hangs around the house all day waiting to answer the front door disapprovingly when George arrives to pick up his son.
The one woman with an actual backbone and sense of values in this movie is Biel's character. Unfortunately, she's also rendered as bland, conservative and, oddly, a little frumpy. It's difficult to tell what sort of magic these two forged together years ago and flat-out impossible to care whether they'll reconcile, although — spoiler! — that's just one of the many elements of the lazy, formulaic game plan in play here.

"Playing for Keeps," a FilmDistrict release, is rated PG-13 for some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image. Running time: 105 minutes. Zero stars out of four.

Read more: http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/...p#ixzz2EGurP000

Questo lo chiami andarci più leggero??

A quanto pare il film non è piaciuto a nessuno, non c'è nemmeno uno che dice una cosa diversa. Penso che anche al botteghino sarà dura, molto dura.

Non vorrei essere pessimista, ma già a vedere la premiere a basso profilo e il 'gelo' tra il cast (di cui mancavano altri pezzi) non promette niente di buono.

Mah.. a me è sembrata una premiere come tutte le altre... e a volte qualcuno può mancare perchè è impegnato in altri progetti.

Comunque mi chiedo... criticano tanto il copione e conoscendo Gerry, che si fa prendere dall'entusiasmo con poco, potrei capire che non abbia visto che era una ciofeca. Ma tutti gli altri? La Thurman e la Zeta Jones è un po' di tempo che lavorano nel cinema!

mmmhhhhhh a quanto pare promette proprio bene
Onestamente ..ma con quella trama non ci si poteva aspettare chissà che (tra l'altro una trama vista e rivista)! In più con Muccino che è il regista del "tritato melenso"!!


La Thurman è stata stroncatissima all'ultimo film che fece (motherhood) che ha battuto tutto i record negativi con soli 12 biglietti venduti a Londra nel primo we (se nn ricordo male) la Jones era un pò che nn faceva niente ..ma poi sec me gli americani si sono fatti attrarre molto dal nome di Muccino che era diventato popolare in USA per "la ricerca della felicità" .


QUOTO..pensasse anche alla vita..che quando sei vecchietto e solo nn ti scalda certo una pellicola nelle notti di inverno...

Oh almeno questa recensione anche se critica il film...è un po' più giusta con Gerry (e cita anche Coriolano tra i suoi lavori migliori)

Review: 'Playing for Keeps' scores a few points for Gerard Butler

Though the stereotypic 'Playing for Keeps' wastes the talents of actresses like Uma Thurman, at least Gerard Butler gets to show off his romantic leading-man potential.

The idea underlying "Playing for Keeps," the new romantic comedy starring Gerard Butler, is basic: A well-toned guy who is good with kids is the ultimate aphrodisiac for sex-starved soccer moms. Three very good actresses are squandered to prove the point.

And yet, like the former soccer star played by Butler — all hard abs, easy smiles and golden curls, his Scottish brogue set free — the film has some of the right moves.

There is cool footage of game-winning kicks, a kid anyone would adore, and Butler's playboy/athlete who seems serious about unearthing his decent side.

Directed by Gabriele Muccino ("The Pursuit of Happyness") and written by Robbie Fox, there is a story here, but more than anything else "Playing for Keeps" is out to score a feel-good moment in every single scene — no exaggeration.

George Dryer (Butler) is a still-hunky guy with a rakish charm, now a few years past his pro-playing prime. He's turned up in small-town Virginia out of a job and intent on getting to know his young son Lewis (Noah Lomax) and possibly winning back his ex, Stacie (Jessica Biel).

In a very predictable setup to this very predictable film, Stacie is about to marry a much steadier — read boring — guy in Matt (James Tupper). Tupper has been stripped of every ounce of his "Men in Trees" macho and poses no threat. Thank goodness kids are in the picture; puppies and kittens probably should have been considered.

The local sportscasting gig George hopes to land isn't panning out and Lewis' soccer team is in desperate need of a good coach, so — spoiler alert (just kidding) — George is drafted to coach the kid's team. Butler and Lomax turn out to be a convincing father and son. George's attempts to turn into a more responsible grown-up — one his son will respect — exposes a more vulnerable side to Butler than we typically see. Lomax holds his own on the emotional front, big sad eyes registering years of disappointment when dad lets him down once again.

But any topical relevance tied to absentee father issues is short-lived. All those panting soccer moms keep turning up to complicate things. Technically this is where the comedy is supposed to come from, but the caricatures are so clumsy that it's more of a nails-on-blackboard experience.

The longest nails belong to Catherine Zeta-Jones' Denise. She is an impeccably turned-out flirty former sports broadcaster, whose promise to hook George up with ESPN comes with strings attached. Judy Greer sans any of the nuance of her betrayed wife in "The Descendants" plays a weepy-clingy single mom. The hardest to take is Uma Thurman's Patti, a society wife whose desire to seduce George is merely to get even with her philandering husband, Carl (a crazed Dennis Quaid). Meanwhile Carl is a boorish big-money guy nursing a man-crush on George and hoping cash and the loan of his red Ferrari will help the bromance along.

To be fair, Butler's George has some chemistry with most of the moms, just not the mom that matters. That particular twist is not one the film intends, I am sure. Biel easily pulls off the sporty, mom-next-door look for Stacie, but she never crosses over into still-madly-in-love-with-the-guy territory, which is where the film is headed from the outset.

Despite a string of emotional moments that Butler lays at her feet, including teary eyes, the actress never warms up in any believable way. It's a particular disappointment since Stacie is the only female character who doesn't descend completely into stereotype.

Of late, Butler has been on a fairly steady diet of roles playing the good guy with flaws in marginal movies — the latest, "Chasing Mavericks," is still in theaters. Although his battle-ready leaders of "300" and "Coriolanus" remain among his best work, the softer side he gets to in George suggests Butler has real romantic leading-man potential — in ways that the supposed to be hot, but not, "Bounty Hunter" opposite Jennifer Anniston never was.

At some point you hope the actor will find a movie that will give him the right material to make hearts truly beat faster. Until then, it appears we'll have to settle for films with more flaws than his characters.


http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movie...0,5336818.story