Playing for Keeps

Gabriele Muccino's Playing for Keeps, an awkward mix of sports and suds, exists primarily to keep Scottish actor Gerard Butler's fan club happy. While he once enjoyed a successful soccer career, Butler's George—who dreams of becoming a sportscaster—now struggles to make ends meet. Moving to Virginia to reconnect with his son, Lewis (Noah Lomax), George ultimately hopes to reunite with his ex-wife, Stacie (Jessica Biel)—except she's engaged, and still bitter about his past indiscretions. When George catches Lewis's soccer coach slacking off, he steps in, and wins over players and parents alike. Unfortunately. too much so: the way that talented actresses like Judy Greer, Uma Thurman, and Catherine Zeta-Jones throw themselves at George registers as more pathetic than amusing. The real heavy in the film turns out not to be Stacie's nice-guy fiancé (James Tupper), but rather the insanely jealous millionaire (Dennis Quaid) with the lonely wife (Thurman). The male-female machinations here are both familiar and forced, and the film only comes alive whenever George spends time with the kids, an outspoken group who recall the Bad News Bears wiseacres. Optional, at best. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (9 min.), a cast featurette (7 min.), deleted scenes (10 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an unexceptional film.] (K. Fennessy)