It takes about ten seconds to guess how the latest Gerard Butler vehicle Playing for Keeps will most likely end (Is that Jessica Biel as Butler's harried ex, who still looks a bit mooney-eyed for her rascally baby daddy? And she's about to get married to someone else? A classic Rom-Com 101 recipe for love! ) but that won't stop the target demo from swooning come December 7. And let's be real: I will so watch this movie, predictable or not.
It's not that Butler is all that swoon-worthy as a middle-aged loser athlete clinging to his past greatness. (Gross.) It's not that Playing for Keeps, with its groan-worthily on the nose sports-themed title, feels fresh in any way whatsoever. (It doesn't. But how great would it be if this was a remake of the Weinstein-directed 1986 rock 'n' roll hotel comedy of the same name?)
And don't get me started on how Uma Thurman and Catherine Zeta-Jones, both 42 and exactly the same age as Butler, have become Hollywood's go-to cougar-types while the 12-years-younger Jessica Biel is positioned as Butler's fresh-faced leading lady.
Whatever.
I'll go see this Playing for Keeps because it vaguely reminds me of those '90s rom-coms that used to star Michelle Pfeiffer and Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and John Cusack, the kind of movies about grown-ups of a certain age dealing with parenting and careers and their own crippling failings while still falling in love. (Like I said: A vague reminder. Let's just all blow off work and go Netflix One Fine Day, shall we?)
Also, those brief soccer-tot scenes remind me of Ladybugs. And The Big Green. And I kinda want to see Gerard Butler juggle a few balls and shoot a Gatorade bottle off a goalpost with a soccer ball. For that matter, forget Butler: I'd like to see Biel, reportedly a soccer ace in real life, dribble circles around Butler on the pitch. Give me that movie, Hollywood.
Verdict: Feels predictable, familiar... and mindlessly watchable. Eh, why not?
Playing for Keeps hits theaters on December 7 and is directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness, Seven Pounds).